Province's property tax assessment practices questioned

A Rothesay man, who is not being allowed to dispute his property tax bill because he bought his home two weeks after the appeal deadline, is questioning how diligently the provincial government documents falling real estate prices.

Michael Caissie bought his home on Monaco Drive two weeks ago for $56,000 less than its assessed value.

It's at least the fifth house on the street that has sold at a discount of $50,000 or more in the last five months, according to propertize.ca, a website that uses public data to allow people to view and compare property assessment information in New Brunswick.

The website shows that assessments on the street have barely budged despite the trend in house sales.

"I really, really doubt the tax assessment people are out there searching for houses where the value decreases," said Caissie, who was told he will have to live with his inflated assessment and tax bill until next year.

"A lot of the houses in this area are going for a lot less than what they're actually being assessed at."

Assessments in New Brunswick are supposed to be market-based and reflect the likely selling price of a particular property.

On Monaco Drive, selling prices began slumping significantly months ago, but with very little effect on neighbourhood assessments.

According to data compiled by propertize.ca, the house at 35 Monaco Dr. sold for $189,000 last November — $56,200 below the value assessed by the province.

A month later, the house down the street, at 56 Monaco Dr., sold for $255,000 — $63,600 under its assessment.

That trend has continued this year with the house at 11 Monaco Dr. selling for $205,000 on Jan. 1 — $51,100 below its assessed value, and another home at 47 Monaco Dr. going for $190,000 on Jan. 30 — $58,100 below its assessment.

Caissie bought his home, also at a substantial discount, in April.

However, despite houses selling 20 per cent and more below their assessed values up and down Monaco Drive, the provincial government lowered 2015 assessments on only 23 of the 56 properties on the street and all by less than three per cent.

Twenty-seven properties saw no change in their assessments and six received increases.

Propertize.ca says the average assessment change over all 56 properties on Monaco Drive works out to -0.66 per cent.

Bonnie Creber Doyle, from Service New Brunswick, says assessment adjustments for 2015 include only house sales that occur during 2014.

"As markets go up and down and to ensure equity among all owners, the sales that occur in 2015 will be used for establishing 2016 tax bills," said Creber Doyle.

It is not possible for anyone who purchases a property after April to dispute their tax bill until the following year, she said.

"The owner of the property, as of Jan. 1, has 30 days from release of the tax bill to submit a request for review," said Creber Doyle.