Town irrigation acres going to live  auction with $4,000 reserve bid

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

At a May 12 meeting of town council the administration brought back the discussion about the Town-owned Eureka Lands with 172 irrigation acres designated to them. The Town is selling parcels of that land for industrial development and must transfer or dispose of the irrigation acres before registering new subdivisions. No fewer than 92 acres must be sold to meet the requirement for registering the new subdivisions.

Council last discussed the sale on April 14, when Procurement Specialist Megan Sushelnitski told council that the St. Mary Irrigation District (SMRID) informed her that the acres could be sold for between $4,000 – $5,000 per acre.

Sushelnitski suggested that the acres could be advertised through SMRID Marketplace and council settled on a motion to contact auctioneers and explore their fees versus advertising through SMRID or selling it independently with a reserve bid attached to it. Of all the councillors, Coun. Brewin seemed the most well-acquainted with the subject and led the direction of the talks.

Irrigation acres can only be used for agricultural irrigation purposes and the Town has no need for irrigation acres on other public lands. The acres are not the geographical land, but rather the acres to which a landowner is entitled to apply district water. The Irrigation District Associations Act (IDA) does not allow permanent irrigation acres to remain on lands that are not agricultural. In this case, the landowner –the Town of Taber– is required to remove the permanent irrigation acres by way of sale or transfer in order to redevelop the land for industrial use.

  The buyer must have another parcel of land elsewhere within the district that meets the criteria for permanent irrigation acres, which are subject to a land and soils classification per the IDA. That buyer can then transfer the irrigation acres to his own land, assuming it meets the criteria.

   The administration gave council three options to ensure that the current subdivisions in the northeast of Taber can be registered with land titles and return the land to conformity with the IDA. In the agenda, the options were:

1.That Council direct Administration to proceed with a Traditional Offer Sale Process for the sale of 172 Irrigation Acres with an asking price of  per acre.

2. That Council direct Administration to proceed a Live Auction Sale with a Reserve Bid for the sale of 172 Irrigation Acres with a reserve bid of  per acre.

3. That Council direct Administration to proceed a Live Auction Sale without a Reserve Bid for the sale of 172 Irrigation Acres.

  Brewin said he would recommend option three. Coun. Sorensen thought that option two was preferable, given the fact that, “This is taxpayer’s money. We need to make sure that we get good value for it.”

  The two councillors had a brief dispute, with Sorensen suggesting a $4,500 reserve bid and Brewin submitting that the acres would be in high demand and therefore more valuable. Sorensen said she did not want to take a high-risk approach with public money.

  Coun. Remfert believed that number one was the most cautious option and number three had the most potential upside. He wanted to nix option two and recommended three. Coun. Firth leaned towards Sorensen’s low-risk approach. Mayor Prokop admitted that to his knowledge, the Town hadn’t dealt with an irrigation acre sale before, making the decision a “grey area.”

  Sorensen stood firm in her stance that a reserve bid was necessary. She put forward a motion for option two –a live auction with a $4,000 reserve bid– and it was carried on the strength of a 4-2 vote. Coun. Bekkering was not present at the meeting.