Saint John woman facing $900 property tax increase as big industry bills decline
CBC
Emily Arsenault, a nurse and single mother in Saint John, recently discovered her home will be facing a $900 property tax increase after she was excluded from New Brunswick's provincewide assessment freeze.
"That is frustrating," said Arsenault.
"It's a significant amount for me."
Assessment notices mailed out across New Brunswick last month show a record $13 billion worth of property in the province will be sheltered from municipal and provincial property taxation in 2026.
The amount has nearly doubled over the last year because of a "value for taxation freeze" implemented on assessments by the Holt government for 2026 while it works on property tax reforms.
The freeze will be a significant saving to thousands of New Brunswick residential, commercial and industrial property owners who qualify for it, representing between $150 and $200 million in municipal and provincial levies they will not have to pay in 2026.
However, the freeze does not apply to anyone who bought a home in the past year and that is worsening uneven tax burdens in neighbourhoods between long-time residents and newcomers.
Arsenault bought her house in Saint John last spring for herself and two young children and was officially informed last month in her 2026 assessment notice that a $25,600 increase in the property's value will not be exempt from tax like most of her neighbours
At the same time under a separate New Brunswick government rule, assessment discounts that Arsenault's home qualified for under its previous owner will be cancelled.
The two events will cause the $900 increase in her tax bill, which is to be issued by the province next month.
Arsenault isn't sure where she'll find the money to pay it.
"It is hard to make ends meet on a nurse's salary and with two little kids that have expenses. It's tight," she said.
Arsenault's 25 per cent tax increase is unusual in the city this year.
The province's assessment freeze is not universal, but government estimates are that 90 per cent of property owners in New Brunswick qualify for it.
An RCMP-led corruption investigation is underway into at least one current Calgary city councillor as well as a business, CBC News has learned.
Much of Newfoundland is digging out of a blustery and messy day as another storm slams into the island.
Timiskaming—Cochrane MPP John Vanthof recalls the meeting in Thunder Bay earlier this month. He was part of the nine-day road trip along Highways 11 and 17 with other NDP MPPs.
A bill before the Nova Scotia Legislature is proposing raising the age limit for support for young people who have been in the foster care or group home system to 26.
The Fredericton Police Force has reallocated funds so new staff can be hired this year to better manage evidence after a police error upended murder cases against five people.
One of two pilots killed in a plane crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport Sunday earned his wings at an Ontario college, CBC News has learned.
Air Canada passengers who were aboard Flight 8646 when the CRJ-900 aircraft struck a fire truck upon landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport on Sunday evening say the collision was sudden and forceful, and they may owe their lives to the pilots who died in the incident.
Cardiac services are set to expand at a Winnipeg hospital once regarded as one of the best in Canada for heart care.
A 26-second TikTok video has ignited a larger conversation about vulnerable populations, theft and content creation.
Some family doctors and emergency room physicians working in Edmonton hospitals warn that an April 1 end to stipend pay arrangements could put patient care at risk and increase suffering.
An Auditor General of Canada report has found that B.C. saw drastically fewer international students than was forecast ever since wide-ranging federal immigration cuts began in 2024.
Six years after e-learning became a mandatory requirement to get an Ontario high school diploma, students don't appear to be taking online school to diversify their course selection as the province had intended, according to a CBC News analysis of provincial enrolment data.
Sarnia City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday morning to respond to social media comments made by Coun. Bill Dennis, who criticized city spending on a new mural by Indigenous artist Kennady Osborne as “virtue signalling by woke politicians” — then made a series of comments in response to a reply from Aamjiwnaang Chief Janelle Nahmabin that some have characterized as unprofessional and aggressive.