New Brunswick to freeze property assessments for 2018 while review is completed
FREDERICTON — Seeking to contain a festering scandal involving “thousands and thousands of errors,” New Brunswick is freezing property tax assessments and assigning the task to a new independent agency.
A whistleblower alleged in March that more than 2,000 property owners were given improper and inflated tax bills. In one case, a newlywed couple said they were stunned when their property’s assessed value doubled to $347,000 from about $170,000.
Local Government Minister Serge Rousselle said Wednesday an assessment freeze will ensure predictability while the government establishes an agency to handle assessments and Auditor General Kim MacPherson reviews the system. Her report is due later this year.
“This will allow sufficient time for government to act on the auditor general’s recommendations for the 2019 taxation year,” Rousselle said.