ASSESSMENTS CONTINUE TO DRIVE UP TAX RATES GOVERNMENT

Tuesday January 13, 2004

Halifax – Timberlea-Prospect MLA Bill Estabrooks and NDP Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations Critic Michele Raymond are calling on the Minister responsible, Barry Barnet, to tell Nova Scotians why his government has done nothing to protect them from skyrocketing assessments.

“The Hamm government continues to pretend that there is no relationship between property assessment and municipal tax rates,� says Estabrooks. “They have tried once again to download the problem onto the municipalities and it just isn’t going to work.�

“Nova Scotians were led to believe that a cap was coming on property taxes and that just isn’t happening.�

On October 30th of 2003 the government introduced amendments to the Assessment Act that, they announced in a press release, would provide “Protection for Property Owners.� The promised cap was to be determined only in consultation with the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities. To date there has only been one meeting between the government and the UNSM and only one letter written and no cap in force to protect ratepayers from the increases that will follow this year’s assessments.

“Rate payers, particularly those on fixed incomes, can’t afford the new rates that come with these uncontrolled increases in assessments,� says Raymond.

“Many seniors find that they may own their home but can’t afford to stay there because they can’t afford the taxes.�

“For the province to pretend none of this is their problem is a cynical abdication of responsibility.�

In April of 2002 Estabrooks introduced a private members bill to protect Nova Scotians for skyrocketing assessment rates. The NDP amendments to the Assessment Act specified that no property assessment could increase in one year by more than the annual rated of increase in the Consumer Price Index.

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