City is driving us out

[SIZE="3"][B]Property tax: Living in Saint John is fast becoming non-option, homeowner says[/B]

David Fischer is retiring this year and seriously considering selling his 11-year-old east side bungalow to escape escalating property taxes.

"I've got to look at my options," said Fischer, who has lived in the city about 15 years.

"As much as I love my house and I love my neighbourhood, I don't know if I can continue down this path.

"I'm looking five years down the road. My income is not going to change."

Fischer has already had real estate appraisers take a look at his home to advise him and, although the province has valued his Ganong Road home at $228,200 - which is two times what it was assessed at back in 1999 - one appraiser has told him that he would be hard-pressed to get that kind of cash.

"Realistically, you should probably put it on the market for $210,000 and that's just based on the comparable sales," Fischer said the agent told him.

"That's a real estate expert and he wants to get the listing. He's not going to low-ball me."

Fischer is one of thousands of residents who have seen their property tax assessments skyrocket this year by tens of thousands of dollars.

The province warned municipalities that assessments were poised to go up given that the [B]value of homes in the Saint John region have increased an average of more than [COLOR="red"]18 per cent[/COLOR][/B], year over year, and recommended that the city drop its tax rate by about 5.5 cents.

[B]But the city chose to hold the line on the rate at [COLOR="Red"]$1.785 [/COLOR]per[COLOR="red"] $100 [/COLOR]of assessed property, [COLOR="red"]the highest in New Brunswick [/COLOR].[/B]

"The city is driving us out," Fischer said. "They (saw) the tax grab coming.

"I could put my house in Quispamsis and be paying $1,500 less a year."

Last year, Fischer says he paid $3,500 in property taxes; this year, his bill is $4,117, reflecting an assessment increase of nearly 25 per cent.

"It's nuts," he said.

Fischer describes his 1,367-square-foot home, with attached double garage, as "a basic home with pretty standard features. ... Well built, but nothing fancy."

Although the city must accept some responsibility, Fischer said, the province is also at fault.

"Accountants can make numbers say whatever they want. Government, especially the tax assessment boys, do that very well."

He has been keeping a spreadsheet of the assessed property values of everyone on his street since 2006.

"There are just so many things that don't make sense.

"If you and I are going in and we have identical houses - yours is assessed at $100,000 and mine at $200,000 - I can't compare one assessment to another. They only go on sales in the area of comparables."

But the government is so out of touch, he said, "they don't know what a comparable is.

"They say the assessed values aren't relevant. I say they've got to be relevant because that's what you're taxing me on."

Fischer said he has looked at 11 homes that sold on Bon Accord Drive, an adjoining street in his neighbourhood, and they all sold for $1,300 below their assessed value.

On the other hand, homes on Norman Drive, another adjoining street, sold at 40 per cent over their assessed values.

"That's why we're getting worked over," he said. "I've done nothing and now mine is the highest on the street.

"It's something like the weather man. They use a dart board, and wherever it hits, that's what we do."

Fischer has also pulled some Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation documents that say the value of housing in Saint John went up 6.6 per cent last year and this year, is forecast to increase by 2.1 per cent.

"Adding the two together, that's eight per cent. Mine went up 24 per cent and change. That's three times as much as the housing specialists in Canada say."

Using those numbers, Fischer says the real assessed value of his home should be more like $137,000, not $228,200.

"This begs the question: would I sell it for $140,000? Not likely, as I pay more than that to have it built, including the lot and landscape work I did.

"Can I sell it for the current assessed value? Not likely, according to the real estate agent who appraised it this week.

"At the end of the day, between the 'assessments are out of control' factor and the inability of the City of Saint John to curb spending and have a reasonable tax rate, living in the city is fast becoming a non-option."[/SIZE]

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[SIZE="3"]David Fischer says the province has assessed his house at $228,200, but an appraiser advised him to put it on the market for $210,000. [/SIZE]