New property taxes leave N.B. family questioning their purchase

When Goral Shukla moved to Canada in 2016, it was her dream to be able to purchase a house and a three bed, one-and-a-half bath in Dieppe checked all the boxes, but now she’s ready to sell it.

“This is my regret that I bought this house,” she said.

The young family bought the home in 2022, but their dream quickly turned into a nightmare when they received this year’s property tax bill.

“Last year, our tax was $249 per month, but this year, from March, they say that our property tax will be $443, so it is almost double,” she said. “I think we can’t afford this.”

When they purchased their home, they were told their taxes would be around $200 to $300 each month. It was something they budgeted for since Goral is on maternity leave, but a property assessment in October brought in new numbers.

“Last year, they say its $160,000, and this year, they say it’s $360,000, and I asked that question to the property assessment guy and they say it’s because they assessed in January 2021 and it was not totally built, it was half-built,” she explained.

Shukla tried calling officials for answers, but so far, she says she hasn’t gotten any.

“I called Service New Brunswick and the lady told me that, ‘your property assessment was done in October. You should call us in a month and we will do something,’ but now it’s too late, we can’t do anything,” she said.

“She told us a property assessment guy will call you and that guy called me yesterday and I talked with him and he said it’s done, this is locked, we can’t do anything, you can talk to Service N.B. So they are putting the blame on each other and they don’t give me a satisfying answer.”

Officials say that if property owners are unhappy with their property assessment that came out back in October, it had to be disputed right away.

“They had to have an appeal back in October when the value was released and now there’s not really an appeal avenue because you cannot appeal a tax bill,” said Mathieu Maillet, Atlantic Canada Property Tax Senior Director for Altus Group.

The Province of New Brunswick does have a Spike Protection Mechanism, which protects homeowners from unexpected assessment spikes. However, that 10 per cent cap excludes properties sold in the last year, new construction and major improvements.

“The assessment-to-sale ratio is a metric that the assessment authority measures, and oftentimes, a sale property will trigger a review of that particular property and you could see an assessment double, and later on a tax bill therefore double,” said Maillet.

Service New Brunswick says 477,000 properties were assessed this year and the most growth for assessments was seen in Dieppe, Moncton and Shediac.

“When we’re assessing properties, we’re looking at factors that are driving the value based on the market activity that’s occurring,” said Lisa Dionne, property assessment services executive director for Service New Brunswick. “Location is a huge driver. Location of properties, size of properties, anything to do with workmanship.”

She says that assessments are based on market activities because it’s transparent information.

“We follow the methodologies based on the type of properties that are being assessed, so depending on if it’s a residential property, if it’s a commercial property or income generating property,” she said.

On a municipal level, both Moncton and Dieppe city councils lowered tax rates to help give residents a break back in November. However, each bill would be unique to each homeowner.

“Given the double digital increase we’ve seen in values, the end results for most taxpayers is a higher tax bill,” said Maillet.

As for what the future holds, Dionne says property assessments can decrease the same way that they increased.

“Every year, we look at all market activity that’s occurring and we’re adjusting as such,” she said. “So if there is a drop in the market, absolutely, if there data is showing us that we need to reduce, that’s part of our mandate as well.”

She adds that, in 2020, hospitality, retail, restaurant and airport properties saw a major decrease due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for the Shukla family, their recent experience has turned a lifelong dream into regret.

“Everyone’s dream is to buy a home in Canada and now no one can afford this.”