BILL 15

An Act to Amend the Assessment Act

His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:

1 The Assessment Act, chapter A-14 of the Revised Statutes, 1973, is amended by adding the following after section 15.7:

Assessment of real property in 2025 and subsequent years

15.8( 1) In this section, “current year” means the year in which the assessment is made.

15.8( 2) Despite any other provision of this Act and subject to subsection (3), this section applies in the year 2025 and every subsequent year to all real property, except the following:

(a)  any wire, cable, pipe, pole, tower, installation, equipment or thing, or structures other than buildings, forming part of a television broadcasting, transmission or rebroadcasting or retransmission system including a cable television system, a telephone, an electric light, a telegraph or a telecommunication system or any electric power distribution system, including the New Brunswick Power Corporation;

(b)  all installations, machinery, equipment, apparatus, structures, pipes or pipe lines forming part of a gas holding, storage, transportation, transmission or distribution system;

(c)  any oil pipe line;

(d)  the tower and the foundation of a wind turbine;

(e)  any real property classified by the Director under section 16 as freehold timberland or farm woodlots; and

(f)  any other real property when the amount of the assessment is determined in accordance with section 15.7.

15.8( 3) If, in the opinion of the Director, the circumstances warrant it, the Director may subject real property to the application of this section or exclude real property from the application of this section.

15.8( 4) The Director’s decision under subsection (3) to subject real property to the application of this section or exclude real property from the application of this section is final and may not be questioned or reviewed in any court.

15.8( 5) The minimum value of the assessment on real property under subsection (2) for the current year is $100.

15.8( 6) Subject to subsection (7), the amount of an assessment on real property referred to in subsection (2) for the current year is the lesser of the real and true value for the current year and the value calculated in accordance with the regulations.

15.8( 7) If real property referred to in subsection (2) is transferred in the current year, it shall be assessed for the year following the current year at its real and true value as of January 1 of the year following the current year, except in the circumstances prescribed by regulation.

2 Subsection 40(1) of the Act is amended by adding after paragraph (a.3) the following:

(a.31)  respecting the calculation of the value for the purposes of subsection 15.8(6);

(a.32)  prescribing the circumstances for the purposes of subsection 15.8(7);

Commencement

3 This Act or any provision of it comes into force on a day or days to be fixed by proclamation.