On the rise
Residential and commercial assessments up in Cape Breton
SYDNEY, N.S. — Residential property assessments on Cape Breton Island saw a small increase over last year, according to the latest figures from Property Valuation Services, the notfor-profit agency that provides assessments for the province’s municipalities.
Inverness County, driven by golf courses and related development, had the island’s largest increase at 3.3 per cent over the previous year, followed by Richmond County (2.6 per cent) the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (two per cent), Victoria County (1.8 per cent) and the Town of Port Hawkesbury (0.7 per cent).
“The change that we are seeing has been pretty consistent across Cape Breton for the last couple of years,” said Lloyd MacLeod, senior valuation manager for Property Valuation Services.
“Really, we are only seeing right across Cape Breton a change of about anywhere from one per cent up to about 2.5 per cent.”
The two per cent residential change in the CBRM, for example, likely breaks down to a one per cent market increase year-over-year and the rest related to things like new home construction, new apartments or residents undertaking major renovations.
Across the province an $86.7-billion residential assessment roll is up 2.9 per cent from last year and driven by new construction. The total residential assessment when the provincially legislated assessment cap is factored in comes to $79.9 billion.
As for commercial assessments across Cape Breton, rates changed marginally in Port Hawkesbury and the CBRM, while Richmond County saw a six per cent drop attributed to the closure of the Sable Offshore Energy Project’s Point Tupper fractionation plant, according to MacLeod.
“Richmond lost $18 million in assessment with that closure,” he said. “That’s pretty well attributes to the six per cent that they have lost.”
A 2.6 per cent rise in commercial rates for Victoria County can be attributed to an increased assessment on the Wreck Cove Power Plant that’s owned by Nova Scotia Power.
Golf course development is the most likely reason for 3.5 per cent increase in the commercial rate in Inverness County.
Across the province, the total commercial assessment roll for 2020 stands at $24.6 billion, up 1.2 per cent from last year.
The total 2020 assessment roll for the 630,637 residential and commercial property accounts for Nova Scotia came in at $111 billion, which is up by 2.5 per cent from 2019.
Assessments for more than 630,000 Nova Scotia properties are in the mail.
Property owners have until Feb. 13 to file assessment appeals.