Fifteen minutes outside of the small New Brunswick town of Saint Andrews are the unincorporated areas of Bayside and Chamcook, where residents are expecting to see a hike in their tax bills starting Jan. 1.
With the New Brunswick local governance reform, the amalgamation of services will see their rates jump nearly 50 per cent.
The two small local service areas make up 31 per cent of the tax base when they become part of Saint Andrews, meaning they’ll have to pay that share for the services. That jump means Bayside will see a 43-per cent increase from .51 cents per 100 assessed to 73 cents.
Chamcook’s taxes will jump from .49 cents per 100 assessed to 73 cents, to make a 47-per cent increase.
“When it goes to other municipalities and LSDs (local service districts), it will look a little different for them.” Told Brad Henderson, the Mayor of Saint Andrews,
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“But the truth is, if you’re paying for more service than you were before, your taxes are going to go up.”
Henderson noted that with his town accepting some of those surrounding local service districts, he looks forward to being the voice for those who live in those areas and said that they’re working with the province to iron out some of the concerns residents have been bringing up.
“The facilitator actually met with counsel and myself and as well as representatives from the LSDs and the overwhelming response was that there was a reason to be concerned, and we felt that there had to be more discussion so the facilitator that’s in charge (of) that process for our entity,” Henderson said.
“They are well aware of the concerns that we all have and he is sent as a representative from local government to work with us.”
Local residents have sounded the alarm over the move.
“I feel like we’re being bullied and told what to do from the province,” said Jeremiah Kerr, a Bayside resident running for council.
“We live out here for a reason: not to pay the high taxes, not to have the community tax rates that are involved. It’s very concerning.”
Kerr said that many of the residents he’s heard from didn’t even know about the amalgamation until recently. He brought up concerns for those on fixed incomes, who have already been struggling with rising inflation costs.
The town of Saint Andrews said the tax increases would come into place at 5 per cent at a time over multiple years.
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