Property assessment freeze for one year proposed by Holt government

The New Brunswick government has introduced legislation to freeze property assessments for homeowners, landlords and businesses for one year while it works on a promised plan to reform the province's property tax system.

Finance Minister René Legacy  submitted what he called an Act Respecting Property Tax Affordability Measures for first reading Tuesday afternoon.  

The freeze is meant to buy the government time to make changes in the way nearly $1.8 billion in New Brunswick annual property tax revenue is calculated and apportioned among more than 400,000 properties and their owners.

About two-thirds of property taxes in New Brunswick, more than $1.2 billion this year, fund municipal governments, with the rest flowing to the province. 

"Our government has committed to overhauling the property tax system to ensure stability, fairness and affordability, and while that process is underway, we are committed to property tax relief measures," Legacy said in announcing the plan.

Property taxes in New Brunswick have soared in recent years, mostly for homeowners and landlords, as the cost of housing has escalated.   

In Moncton, residential assessments are up 73 per cent in six years, more than double the increase in inflation or the increase in business property assessments.

In Saint John, where a number of business properties have had assessment reductions in the last two years, Mayor Donna Reardon said she doesn't understand why those would be frozen if the problem of rising assessments has been with housing properties.

"We didn't anticipate this at all," said Reardon.

"I don't think any municipality would recommend to have a freeze because it's a blanket freeze. You know, everybody gets the freeze. Our costs won't be frozen."  

Speaking to reporters after the announcement, interim PC Leader Glen Savoie accused the Holt government of moving slower than it promised on property tax reform and using the assessment freeze as a gimmick to buy time for itself.  

"They want to give the appearance they are taking action," said Savoie.

Green MLA Megan Mitton also criticized the freeze. She echoed Reardon's question about why it will apply to all properties when it is almost exclusively housing properties that have suffered the largest increases.

"What we need is to be helping homeowners and helping renters, and we need mechanisms that will pass on the savings to those who need it the most," she said