Saint John restaurant appeals 77% hike in tax assessment

An uptown Saint John business owner is appealing his provincial tax bill after seeing the assessed value of his property increase by $88,500.

Between 2013 and 2014, the property tax assessment for the Urban Deli building on King Street increased by 77 per cent.

Co-owner Gord Hewitt said the 2014 assessment was $202,400 with a tax bill of $9,872.87.

In 2013, the building was assessed at $113,900 with a tax bill of $5,649.90.

Hewitt appealed his 2014 assessment but was denied.

On Tuesday, the province's assessment and planning appeal board will hear Hewitt'sappeal of the 2014denial.

"If I look at going forward, what's it going to be in the next 5 years?" said Hewitt.

"Am I going to experience another increase like this? It's going to put us out of business. There is no way that we can sustain this."

There were no major renovations made to the property and some neighbouring buildings saw smallincreases in their assessments.

The property tax assessment for 2015is $207,900.

Uptown Saint John president Chris Boudreau says at least four other uptown businesses have complained about large property tax increases.

Boudreau will be attending Hewitt's appeal hearing on Tuesday.

"It's important for us to really understand 'How does this work?"he said.

We hear there's all kinds of different calculations based on market values. We have it all over the map. But when you see these types of increases, there's no rhyme or reason."