The Gallant government will be giving financial help on a case-by-case basis to those municipalities that take a hit due to the freeze in property tax assessments.
Serge Rouselle, who is the minister for Service New Brunswick and the minister of Environment and Local Government, says that by the end of October they will be receiving numbers concerning the assessment base.
“So basically we’ll know around that time of the year, which municipalities, which local governments will have less money for the upcoming year compared to last year so there will be a decrease of revenue,” says Rouselle.
Rouselle tells us they wanted to find a fair solution for everyone and notes that since the economic crisis of 2008, municipal revenues have increased by an estimated 43-percent.
“While the provincial revenues increased by 27.8-percent but at the same time we realize that some local governments, some municipalities are facing challenges and we believe the solution we have found is a fair one,” says Rouselle.
He claims the majority of local governments will see their property tax revenues go up this year due to new construction and real estate sales.
It was announced this summer that the province would be freezing property tax assessments in 2018 as the results of the review by auditor-general Kim MacPherson into assessments is not expected until November.
