How cranes in downtown Moncton help stave off tax increase for Avenir Centre
CBC
Moncton expects to surpass a target set by the municipality that it says makes a tax increase unnecessary to pay for the $113-million Avenir Centre and plaza.
The target is related to new downtown development following the opening of the 8,800-seat arena. Specifically, the target is $108 million in new assessed value by 2023.
With one year to go, the city says it expects to easily meet the goal.
"We're on track, it's going well," Jacques Doucet, the city's chief financial officer, said in an interview.
Marc Landry, the city manager, told Moncton councillors during a council meeting this fall that there has already been $68.2 million in new assessment value recorded as of 2021.
Landry and Doucet said based on building permits issued already, or construction already underway, the city projects to fall between $128 million and $146 million by 2023, well above the target.
"I think hitting this target — and probably surpassing this target — is really positive for the city because we're seeing that the Avenir Centre is actually the catalyst that it was supposed to be," Doucet said.
"It's generating major growth in the city. We can see it with all the cranes in the air."
The Avenir Centre and adjacent plaza opened in September 2018. The city used a combination of funding to build it, borrowing $39 million and getting funding from the provincial and federal governments.
The city hoped new development spurred by the centre would help cover the city's costs so it could maintain a steady tax rate.
The city's tax rate has remained constant since 2016. Councillors approved a 10-cent tax rate cut for 2022 to partially offset steep assessment increases driven by rising housing prices.
The assessed property values at the heart of the target are set by the province each year. When a new building is constructed in the core, the value the province assigns it gets added toward the city's target.
The city's tax rate is multiplied against the assessed value. New construction generally increases a property's assessed value, resulting in higher property tax income without raising the tax rate.
The target has been part of the reason officials in the city have focused on attracting new construction in the city's core.
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