Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton hotel sale triggers criticism of property assessments
CBC
The sale of individual hotels in Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton that resulted in Service New Brunswick assessing the Saint John property as the least valuable, even though it sold for $2 million more than the other two, has Saint John's mayor seething about the agency's work once again.
"I'm frustrated," said Donna Reardon, who believes the Saint John hotel is devalued by provincial assessors only because it is in Saint John.
"I looked them up. I looked up the ratings, looked everything up. It doesn't make any sense."
Property records show that in November the Karwal Group, a hospitality company based in Ontario bought three New Brunswick hotel properties, including the Holiday Inn and Suites in both Saint John and Fredericton and the Fairfield Marriott in Moncton.
The Saint John hotel is the largest of the three with 94 rooms, 12 more than the Moncton property and it has amenities, like an indoor pool, that the Fredericton hotel lacks.
It has also had significant renovations and upgrades in recent years and on internet booking sites scores equal to or better than the other two properties in customer reviews.
The deals to buy them were worth a combined $23.5 million. Records show the Saint John hotel sold for $9.24 million, $2 million more than either of the other two.
However, when assessments were issued on the properties for 2022, Service New Brunswick had that order in reverse. It ranked the Saint John hotel as the least valuable of the three and put a taxable value on it of $1.93 million.
In its calculations it assesses the Fredericton hotel to be worth $1.5 million more than the Saint John property and the Moncton hotel to be worth $3.5 million more.
That requires the Karwal Group to pay the city of Moncton $123,787 in municipal property tax on the Fairfield Marriott this year, more than double the $49,450 Saint John will collect on the Holiday Inn Express. Fredericton will collect just under $74,000
Reardon has claimed for several years Service New Brunswick routinely undervalues industrial, commercial and residential properties in Saint John.
That, she argues, hinders city efforts to both raise revenue and lower its tax rate. She considers the hotel valuations evidence of that ongoing problem and said she plans to raise the issue with Premier Blaine Higgs.
"That's a big loss of revenue for us when our neighbours just next door an hour away are getting that revenue," said Reardon
"We could use that money, but we're not getting it. When the story is published, I'm going to take that and I'm going to send that directly to the premier and then say how can you explain this to me? Why is this happening?"
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