Questions remain about N.B. property tax assessments

CTV Atlantic: N.B. Government getting out of property tax assessment business The N.B. legislature returns next week, and the opposition promises not to let the property tax issue go. CTV’s Laura Brown reports.

N.B. Premier Brian Gallant and his ministers can expect plenty of questions about property taxes when the legislature resumes sitting next week.

Those questions will include how the fast-track assessment system was developed in the first place and what, if anything, will the government do about it? What’s not clear is how many answers there will be.

Fredericton homeowner Kandise Brown says her home assessment went up by about $60,000, seemingly caused by a single improvement.

"Yeah, my $60,000 deck," says Brown.

Brown appealed the assessment, and was told a re-assessment would come back within 90 days.

"One thing I’m concerned about is we haven't done any significant renovations to our house, but we have some immediate needs, like our house does need a new roof, with the soggy ground in the spring it could really use a paved driveway, and now, if we do those things, what kind of tax bill are we going to look at?" asks Brown.

It's one of many questions put to Service New Brunswick and the premier himself, with no clear answer.

Another questions came up today, how much will fixing the system cost?

"We're going to have to wait for what type of recommendations and suggestions come from Justice Robertson, but what I can tell you is that this has been a problem plagued process for years and we're going to fix it," says Premier Gallant.

The fast-track assessment system was supposed to bring in an extra $5.7 million to provincial and municipal coffers.

Paying for Justice Joseph Robertson to complete the review over the next several months, and transferring the system to a new provincial agency could be costly.

"What is it that triggers a tax increase like we've never seem?" asks N.B. Opposition Leader Blaine Higgs.

The opposition promises these questions will be asked when the legislature resumes next week.

Higgs says he's concerned about Justice Robertson's review.

"I'm very concerned about the credibility of what he'll be allowed to look at and the depth of what he'll be able to retroactively look at how we got here, and more importantly how we can work with the office to make sure it happens again, that doesn't mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater," says Higgs.

In the meantime, homeowners continue to wait and see what their new assessments will bring.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Laura Brown.