New BrunswickFredericton’s proposed operational budget recommends keeping the inside tax rate where it is, even after the provincial government froze property tax assessments for 2026. Finance committee chair, Greg Ericson, says the decision from the province did take some flexibility away from how the city could approach the $184.8 million budget and only passes savings on to people who own their homes, not those who rent. City council will vote on the recommendation Monday nightSilas Brown · CBC News · Posted: Nov 03, 2025 3:01 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesCouncil will vote on the $184 million budget Monday evening. (Silas Brown/CBC)Fredericton’s proposed operational budget recommends keeping the inside tax rate where it is, even after the provincial government froze property tax assessments for 2026. Finance committee chair, Greg Ericson, said the the freeze made the budgeting process more difficult, taking away some of the city’s flexibility when approaching its $184.8 million budget and only passes savings on to people who own their homes, not those who rent.“It had a profound impact on our budget process and our budget thinking,” he said. “It basically absorbed substantial potential for a tax rate decrease and limited the number of projects that we could consider because the full extent of our growth and our assessment increases was kind of kept out of the planning process at the start.”’It had a profound impact on our budget process and our budget thinking, says finance committee chair, Greg Ericson. (Silas Brown/CBC)The province froze property assessment for 2026 while it looks at how to overhaul the property tax and assessment system. The 2.4 per cent increase in Fredericton’s tax base this year came from new construction, home sales and major renovations. City treasurer, Alicia Keating, estimates the freeze cost Fredericton between $11 and $15 million in property tax revenue and the city likely would have been able to cut the tax rate between five and 8.5 cents without the assessment freeze.“We have seen large increases the same as a typical homeowner would have for lights and power, for fuel, for just regular repairs and maintenance that we see on our aging infrastructure and our vehicles and all of the things that we do as a service provider,” Keating said.The outside rate, for households in recently annexed areas, will go up by five per cent. That rate is continuing to be slowly increased to catch up with the inside rate and the cost of providing services to outlying areas of the city.Local government minister, Aaron Kennedy, recently told CBC News that the assessment freeze was a key affordability measure implemented by the government and that he expected most municipalities to avoid raising their tax rates.Local government minister Aaron Kennedy said the assessment freeze was a key affordability measure as the province reviews the entire property tax system. (Chad Ingraham/CBC)The province did provide $5.3 million through the new capital renewal fund, but instead of putting that money toward its capital projects, the city used it to offset some of the inflation on costs felt throughout the year. Ericson said that means instead of using the funding to help reduce its infrastructure deficit, that deficit will continue to grow. “The $5.3 million the city’s getting…that is supposed to help municipalities cope with the new expenses associated with their infrastructure, it’s not supposed to give us an ability to cope with the province’s sudden desire to pass affordability on to some residents and not others,” he said.According to a presentation from Keating, inflation pushed costs up by 2.75 per cent over last year, slightly more than the 2.4 per cent the tax base grew. Without the assessment freeze, Keating estimates the city’s tax base would have grown by nearly five per cent. The proposed budget includes several increases to priority areas, including $868,000 for a new southside transit route that would add service moving in an east-west loop, primarily to service the university area. Another $872,000 is proposed to maintain round the clock shifts of community safety teams, with an additional $702,000 for the community engagement unit, which sends non-uniformed officers to respond to low priority emergency calls. Finally, the budget recommends $1 million be spent on implementing the recently adopted recreation master plan. Council will vote on the budget on Monday night. ABOUT THE AUTHORSilas Brown is a Fredericton-based video journalist. You can reach him at silas.brown@cbc.ca.
Frederictons proposed budget to keep tax rate steady for most property owners
