By Adam Ophus

new bylaw in the works

County putting onus on mobile home park owners to collect property taxes

May 22, 2019 | 10:20 AM

Clearwater County is taking steps to ensure property tax revenue is collected from mobile home parks.

Council is discussing a bylaw that would make mobile home park owners responsible for all the land and manufactured home property taxes. Park owners would then be tasked with collecting property taxes from individual lot owners and remitting that money to the County.

Currently each manufactured home owner in a manufactured home park receives a combined tax and assessment notice for that home only. The Manufactured Home Park owner is sent a combined tax and assessment notice for the land component only. Clearwater County Administration relies on the park owner/manager to supply them with the required information.

County Reeve Jim Duncan says park owners have not been doing their due diligence in this regard.

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“This has been an ongoing issue for years,” he says. “There has definitely been time and costs incurred, hence our decision for the new bylaw.”

The County is currently owed $6,700 in property taxes from mobile home parks.

If a bylaw was passed, assessment of the units would transfer to park owners for the 2021 assessment year, and taxation for these properties would fall on park owners in 2022. Clearwater County would be responsible for collecting the taxes from the unit owners for taxes levied in 2021 and older.

There are four Mobile Home parks located in Clearwater County; Raven Mobile Home Park (17 stalls) Westerner Mobile Home Park (14 stalls), West Country Community Mobile Home Park (42 stalls) and Pinewoods Mobile Home Park (51 stalls).