Saint John property tax bills coming soon, likely with more pain for homeowners and landlords
CBC
New Brunswick property owners will be getting 2025 tax bills mailed to them beginning in two weeks but figures are already showing that for Saint John, those bills will bring another wave of uneven tax increases that will wash over owners of houses and apartment buildings while barely splashing many business and government properties.
In Saint John, property tax revenues to the city are up $14.9 million over the last two budget years, including $6.4 million this year.
Most of the increases over the two years, $13.1 million, have been billed to homeowners and landlords. That's 88 per cent of the total tax increase.
It's also 17.6 per cent more than what those two groups paid the city in 2023.
All remaining properties, including some of New Brunswick's largest industrial, commercial and government facilities, will pay Saint John a combined $1.8 million more in tax this year than they did in 2023. That's a 2.6 per cent increase for them over the two years.
Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon acknowledges homes and apartments in her city will be hit with disproportionately high tax increases for a second year in a row when bills arrive early next month, but says that is only because provincial property tax rules are forcing that outcome on city taxpayers.
"You're handcuffed," said Reardon. "The percentage increase is not across the board. That to me doesn't make sense."
The issue for Saint John is caused by property values that have been growing much faster on housing than on business and government properties, according to annual property assessments conducted by Service New Brunswick.
However, despite that uneven growth pattern, the city is prevented from directing property tax rate reductions toward housing properties by a provincial rule, which forces it to share any property tax rate cuts it adopts among all property owners equally.
It's that rule that Reardon blames for the one-sided escalation in taxes being experienced by homeowners and landlords and is something she is hoping the province will change by next year.
"We all need to be raised up by the same amount, whatever that is," Reardon said about her belief property tax increases should be shared equally among all groups in a community.
"If it is, on average, 10 per cent on residential, then it should be, on average, 10 per cent across the board."
That is not how the current system has been working.
Over the last two years, Saint John has cut its property tax rate by 4.3 per cent to offset some of the effects of rising property assessments.
The City of Edmonton is developing a wildfire strategy to mitigate risks within the municipality and help neighbouring regions, the city's emergency advisory committee heard Wednesday.
About 20 workers, students and local MPP candidates gathered outside Hamilton's Mohawk College Wednesday — where a fifth of full-time jobs have been cut since December — to call on the province to better fund post-secondary education.
In a busy race to Queen's Park, nine candidates are vying for the Sarnia—Lambton seat — a riding that's been conservative for nearly 20 years.
There's just over a year left in the Canada-Alberta child-care agreement and it's shaping up to be a rocky one for some parents, who — for this first time in the history of the agreement — will see their fees increase as a new phase of the program rolls out.
B.C. MLA Adrian Dix says he gets texts, emails, and even stopped at his local Safeway. He says people urge him to cut off power or even water to the U.S.
B.C. cities, in general, would be among the least vulnerable in Canada if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on tariff threats, according to new data from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Here's where and when you can vote in advance polls in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County
Voting day is Feb. 27 in the Ontario election, but people can cast their ballots this week in advance polls.
Staff with Summerside Electric say they're not getting many updates from Maritime Electric after a failure at the utility's Sherbrooke substation over a week ago caused strain on the city's electrical grid.
The N.W.T.'s public utilities board has ordered the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) to start paying Naka Power $48,500 per month to use a transmission line in the Hay River area, starting March 1.
Ideologically motivated violent extremist groups are using antisemitism in a bid to recruit followers and inspire violence, according to a report from Canada's spy agency.
It's a move that could reshape North American trade.
Ontario's main political parties are competing for the hearts of voters by appealing to their wallets, with a mix of tax cuts and money-back rebates pitched as helping with the cost of living.
With one full week to go before voting day, Elections Ontario is working to reverse a recent downward trend in voter turnout, which set a record low of 43 per cent the last time Ontarians went to the polls in 2022.