Residents in the Northwest area of Moncton are concerned over what effect the provincially legislated amalgamation will have on taxes.
Tim Holton built his dream home at the bottom of Charles Lutes Road in the Lutes Mountain area just over ten years ago.
Now the home is on land being annexed by the city of Moncton through the province's Local Governance Reform which went into effect on January 1.
“Once we're amalgamated into Moncton city limits our taxes are going to increase obviously,” said Holton. “They're going to want to put water and sewer down here. The problem I have with that is we spent several thousands of dollars, close to $30,000, on a well and septic system.”
His house is located in a subdivision off Charles Lutes Road not far from Holton, but things are a bit more complicated for him.
His house is actually located within city limits, but his property isn’t.
Homeowner Andy Thompson is also concerned about increasing property taxes.
“We moved here for a particular reason. That was to retire here because it was affordable. The property taxes are affordable. The cost of living is affordable here, but now it's not going to be,” said Thompson.
Thompson is convinced his property taxes will go up but doesn’t know where he and his wife will find the money.
We don't want to be paying $2,500, $3,000 on property taxes. That's just not feasible, not viable. Especially for us that are on a fixed income or retired or semi-retired. Do the math. The funds just aren't there,” said Thompson.
The amalgamation means there are around 650 additional people that have become residents of Moncton.
The city held a public information session in December with residents from the annexed area and the 2023 budget saw a five per cent tax increase for those residents.
City spokesperson Isabelle LeBlanc said the city says doesn't know what their property tax bill will look like because the province handles the assessment and the city determines the tax rate per $100 of the assessment.
It’s frustrating for Holton who built his home on a two-acre lot so he would have country living close to the city.
“We had been looking at the area since 2001 and we finally got a chance to build here in 2011,” said Holton. “We are just outside city limits within a stone’s throw of all the other amenities. It was appealing that we could build the house of our dreams and essentially have a lower tax bracket.”
