Captain John’s floating restaurant has hit another legal shoal in its efforts to steer clear of high property taxes.
A panel of three judges has ruled the vessel moored at the foot of Yonge Street is, for legal purposes, a “structure.”
And that means it must pay property tax on the same basis as shore-bound buildings.
Restaurant owner John Letnik had appealed his assessment in 2007 as his taxes crept up to about $36,000 — double what they were in the 1990s.
Letnik’s business is housed in the M.S. Jadran, a 90-metre former cruise ship that has been moored in the same spot for more than three decades. He pays a monthly fee for use of the dock, plus property taxes of more than $36,000 annually.
The court ordered Letnik’s company to pay $7,500 in legal costs to the Municipal Property Assessment Corp.
