DEER LAKE — Owners of the Holiday Inn Express in Deer Lake have paid the hotel’s tax debt and will get a break on about out $2,000 in interest charges.
Council voted Monday night to not charge the interest because the hotel is still being constructed and will not open until May.
Owners of the new hotel asked council last month for a break in the tax bill because work had stopped for over a year due to financially challenging times, but the water and sewer remained hooked up. When work began again last spring the hotel had an outstanding tax bill, which council believed could not be overlooked.
Deputy mayor Sandra Pinksen of the finance committee said the hotel is now current in its tax bill.
“The hotel is not open yet and they paid their taxes and asked us if we would give them a break on their interest,” said Pinksen. “They paid off their taxes, and we let the interest go for this one time only.”
She said when the hotel opens in the spring it will be subject to the same tax payment system as any other Deer Lake business.
The hotel will provide jobs for approximately 50 people and should have between 80-100 rooms.
Construction on the building on Bennett Avenue adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway was started in 2008 ago, but was halted a year later, with the parent company, Nova Scotia-based Pacrim, citing harsh economic realities at the time. Work began again last September.
