Property assessments going up for 179,000 New Brunswickers

Popular resort towns like Saint Andrews have seen the largest increase in property values, and tax bills connected to them.

Property tax bills began landing in mailboxes around the province Friday.

Although most landowners will not pay any more than last year, there are hints of pockets of tax increases in some areas — including several popular summer communities — that won't be fully revealed until next week.

Service New Brunswick has revealed that nearly 179,000 properties around the province, 38 per cent, will see an assessment and tax increase this year. About 28,000 of those increases will see tax bills rise five per cent or more, but the exact location of those are not yet known.

This is the first year that assessments were able to rise after being frozen, then unfrozen in the wake of a controversy over inflated tax bills. The province froze assessments in 2018 after errors in the bills sent to hundreds of homeowners the year before.

Executive director of assessment Stephen Ward said Thursday the largest assessment increases this year probably belong to newly built or renovated structures, not existing properties.

A comprehensive street-by-street list of where property values and taxes have jumped the most will not be released by Service New Brunswick until next week.

"When you see an [assessment] increase greater than 10 per cent, that's typically due to new construction — a new building , a new residential home, a new office structure," Ward told reporters.

But typically, property tax increases also hit in clusters where communities are growing, have recently been visited by assessors or have land that is in high demand.

Heads up

Last fall New Brunswick municipalities were given some information on where property values in their communities were headed. Based on those estimates, full-time and seasonal residents of several popular provincial vacation spots will want to check property tax bills closely as they begin arriving as early as today.

Saint Andrews in particular was told property values in the town were up $18.7 million this year (6.2 per cent), more than double the provincial average of 2.5 per cent.

That may be the result of significant new construction in the town, but may also hint at higher assessment and tax bills coming for average residents.  

Moncton leads cities in assessment growth

Other popular summer communities with higher than average increases in property values this year include Lac Baker (5.5 per cent), Cocagne (4.6 per cent), Cap Pelé (4.2 per cent) and Shediac (4.2 per cent).

Among New Brunswick's larger communities, Moncton continues to lead in the growth of property values. It added a projected $309.7 million in assessed value this year (3.8 per cent) bringing the total worth of all taxable property in the city to $8.37 billion.

That's $1.1 billion more than Fredericton and $1.4 billion more than Saint John.