CORNWALL – The City of Cornwall will pay back Walmart just over $5 million in municipal taxes as the result of a years-long municipal property assessment appeal.
In a news release Tuesday, the city said the total refund is $5,265,751 for the taxation years of 2013 through 2019 based on a mediated settlement.
Legal proceedings have been going on since 2014.
Around a year ago, the city had anticipated paying a “substantial refund” in the order of $4 million for Walmart Canada’s two distribution centers as it worked through a hearing with the Assessment Review Board (ARB).
It’s been saving up money in a tax stabilization reserve ahead of the ruling.
The city will pay $3.3 million from the tax stabilization reserve and a further $1.9 million from general working reserves, which will have to be paid back in upcoming budgets.
The two sites involved are Walmart’s Industrial Park Drive location (Supply Chain Management) and the former Eleven Points Logistics location it bought from Target.