Cities ask party leaders to commit to property tax reform

Property taxes should go up for people living in local service districts, and the increased revenue should go to neighbouring municipalities, says the president of the Cities of New Brunswick Association.

Miramichi Mayor Adam Lordon says 85 per cent of New Brunswickers live within 50 kilometres of a city in the province.

And these people pay significantly less property tax than municipal residents, although they often use city infrastructure and recreation centres, increasing the tax burden on people living in the municipalities. 

"Over time, what we see is a larger tax burden on citizens of municipalized New Brunswick … who are effectively compensating a portion of the taxes that people who live in LSDs should be paying," Lordon told Information Morning Fredericton.

Lordon said if people living in unincorporated areas paid increased property taxes, it could increase revenue by as much as $150 million, he said.

Expected PCs to act

Lordon said the group received assurances from the government of Progressive Conservative Blaine Higgs that municipal reform would be addressed.

While that commitment may still be there, Lordon said, it didn't materialize in the almost two years since the PCs took power.

"It is something that we'll look forward to pursuing and continuing that conversation with whomever forms the next government," he said.

"We're moving in the right direction of course, but we need to now see some of the hard work."

Infrastructure spending

The municipalities association is also calling on the next government to put more money into municipal infrastructure.

"We really haven't seen really very much support at all from the provincial government in renewing the assets, the infrastructure assets, in our communities big and small all across the province," said Lordon.

"That's something that really has to change because we need to have vibrant cities with good infrastructure in order to attract and retain citizens"

Property tax dollars, which are collected by the province, should go directly to the municipalities where the taxes are collected, Lordon said.

"We're really are the only province in Canada where the provincial government takes a portion of the property tax revenue.

"So that would certainly be part of the conversation of rebalancing the property tax equation."

Lordon said the association should have an official set of proposals to present to political parties next week.