Watching the February 16 presentation to CBRM council by staff of the Property Valuation Services Corporation (PVSC) I was struck by how often the presenters — Dave Penny, director of roll data and maintenance; Adam Hanna, assistant director of roll and data maintenance; and Lloyd MacLeod, director of assessment forRead More

Welcome to Part II of what has turned into a two-part series based on the first half of a two-hour CBRM council budget workshop. Just me, working my magic, folks. Those rising Nova Scotia house prices described in Part I led to a 10.8% overall increase in residential assessments acrossRead More

I begin with a confession: I did not attend Saturday’s public consultation session on the CBRM Charter nor did I watch the livestream of the event. At least, I didn’t watch it on Saturday — I did watch it on Monday and I also read all the submissions posted onRead More

Nova Scotia’s Capped Assessment Program (CAP) is a hot mess. The motivation behind it is laudable: no one should lose their house because its assessed value has skyrocketed and they can no longer afford the taxes. If you own a modest home along the Mira River, for example, and Ritchie McRitchfaceRead More

Having established that property taxes are the domain of municipalities in Nova Scotia, I now have to admit that they are also, in some instances, the domain of the province. I know, right? Just when you think you’ve got a nice, black and white distinction going, someone has to comeRead...

We’ve got to talk about Nova Scotia’s Capped Assessment Program (CAP). No, wait! Don’t leave! I know taxes pack that special one-two punch of boring AND painful, but I will do my best to keep the discussion interesting and we really, really do need to talk about the CAP because it’s makingRead More