A New Brunswick homeowner, whose property tax assessment story we first shared with you back in March, is now breathing a little easier.
Christene Sooley of Nauwigewauk was facing an 86-percent increase in her property tax bill after the assessment of her bungalow and granny suite was hiked from $132,000 to $236,000 this year. She filed an appeal on March 6.
It was last week, after an assessor came to check out her home, that she received a letter from Service New Brunswick stating that her assessment had dropped to $165,000.
“I asked to be reassessed and after going back and forth finally got someone to come to my house to physically assess it and they decided to drop it by $71,000,” says Sooley.
Asked how she feels about the new assessment, she says she is relieved but there’s some frustration too.
“It was very frustrating for the government to rush this through the way they did without stopping to think of the consequences. It makes it very difficult for people like me who are on a fixed income and have to budget out what they spend each year,” she says.
Service New Brunswick tells CHSJ News that “property owners who have received notification of a lower reassessment as a result of request for review, can expect to receive an amended tax statement within 35 days.”
Payment is due 90 days from the mailing date of an amended tax bill.
Sooley lives with cerebral palsy and is on disability. When we first spoke, she told us that she was afraid to do renovations to her home to make it more accessible because she was unsure how that would impact her taxes. Now, she hopes to be able to move ahead with improving her home’s accessibility.
