Rare court ruling to determine Fort McMurray councillor's fate

In a rare move, Alberta's courts will decide this month whether a Fort McMurray politician is qualified to be a councillor or should be removed from office after she failed to pay her property taxes on time.

Coun. Colleen Tatum refused to resign last year after the Wood Buffalo municipality said she failed to pay $5,311.23 in property taxes for a home in 2015.

Alberta law disqualifies a councillor from serving if they owe municipal taxes in arrears of more than $50. As a result, it says, a councillor must resign immediately.

In 1990, the City of Edmonton went through a similar controversy. It asked the courts to determine if then Coun. Catherine Chichak was qualified to remain in her elected position after her business failed to pay property taxes.

A Court of Queen's Bench justice found Chichak ineligible but used his discretion and said she didn't need to resign because it was an unintentional mistake.

Like the Edmonton councillor, Tatum said she didn't mean to avoid paying her taxes and attempted to fix the issue as soon as it was brought to her attention.

Court documents show the municipality mailed a first tax notice to Tatum in May 2015. It then mailed four different tax account statements every four months reminding Tatum she had an amount owing.

Because the municipality didn't receive a payment, Tatum owed $6,541.85 by January 2016, court documents say.

During the week that Tatum's tax arrears went public, court documents indicate she paid $6,800 towards her tax debt, leaving her account with a credit.

Wood Buffalo municipality hasn't taken a position on Tatum's status as a councillor. Instead, it says in legal documents it's up to the courts to decide if she is eligible and should remain in office.

Tatum declined to comment saying she wants to respect the court process.

The Court of Queen's Bench will hear arguments on Dec. 15.

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