N.B. to help municipalities
Financial assistance for losses caused by province’s decision to freeze assessments
The New Brunswick government will provide financial assistance to any municipalities that face a decrease in revenues caused by the province’s decision to freeze property tax assessments.
Serge Rousselle, the minister of local government, said Tuesday his department will work with each local government on a case-by-case basis.
“As you know, new construction, major improvements and real estate sales are exempt from the freeze to allow municipal revenues to grow. A majority of local governments, from our projections, will see an increase of revenue next year,” he said.
But Rousselle said early projections indicate about 46 of the province’s roughly 110 municipalities will need assistance, for a total of about $2.6 million. Rousselle met with municipal associations on Monday to discuss their concerns about the freeze and the new property assessment agency to be created this fall.
“We believe that a freeze to assessments, until the property assessment system has been improved, was the only responsible choice from our government’s point of view,” Rousselle said Tuesday.
The Liberal government announced the freeze in June, hoping to contain a festering scandal involving what Premier Brian Gallant said were thousands of errors that started in 2011. A whistleblower alleged in March that more than 2,000 property owners were given improper and inflated tax bills - some double the amount from the previous year. Auditor general Kim MacPherson is reviewing the system and is expected to release a report later this year.
Opposition Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs said that by seeking deals with individual municipalities, the government is only making the situation worse.
“What kind of confusion is that going to create throughout the province, that we’ll do specific deals with every municipality, rather than have a system that actually works,” Higgs said.
Rousselle said any property owners with an assessment decrease will see that reflected on their bills.
“We want to reassure them that if there would be in the future, an increase in their property assessment, that they trust the system, and that they’re sure that the increase is a real, true market value,” Rousselle said.
Higgs said he believes the government should have just reverted to the 2016 assessment levels until the new assessment system is in place.