The value of 2400 hundred properties in New Brunswick were miscalculated, the provincial government has confirmed, and new bills will be going out to the property owners who have been affected.
Questions swirled in the province after the assessments were sent out, with some residents left wondering why their assessment had increased so drastically and reports of errors on the part of Service New Brunswick.
Saint John Lancaster MLA Dorothy Shephard urged homeowners to pay close attention to their property tax bills after one of her constituents came to her complaining about a 26-percent increase in her bill, and it was discovered a mistake had been made.
Service New Brunswick has now confirmed the “miscalculations for 2017, which it is now moving to correct” in a statement.
The province has also apologized and notes that if you’re a property owner who disagrees with your assessment you still have until March 31 to file a appeal.
Shawn Peterson of Rothesay, who runs the assessment website propertize.ca, has tweeted that he believes the appeal deadline should be extended.
Just quoting myself from 3 days ago: “the appeal deadline needs to be extended” #nbpoli https://t.co/Limh0PTkwT
— Shawn Peterson (@RothesayShawn) March 13, 2017
More than 467,000 properties were assessed this year. SNB pointed out in its statement that the error rate this year in lower than it’s been in years past:
“It is important to note that the error rate is less than one percent,” the statement reads. “For example, in 2016, Service New Brunswick issued 5,500 bills.”
