The exterior of Saint John City Hall is pictured in this file photo. (Staff photo)
The city is looking to increase development fees in hopes of recouping an additional $100,000 annually.
The fee adjustments are part of last spring’s sustainability report, prepared by city manager John Collin. The report is the city’s guiding document aimed at curbing its deficit by the end of 2020.
Monday night’s common council meeting saw five bylaw amendments, which represent 78 per cent of the estimated income, pass their first two readings.
City staff estimated that they recoup an estimated $1.2 million in existing permit fees.
Two additional bylaws will come before council in 2021 in order to give the city enough time to offer a public hearing.
The fee increases mainly focus on permit applications and development fees, including doubling the price for permit approval if a developer begins work before getting the green light from the city.
Councillor Donna Reardon voted in favour of the bylaws, but voiced a word of support for the city’s developers as well.
“It’s always a struggle because I don’t ever want to discourage anything in the development process, and I want to make sure we’re supporting developers, because at the end of the day their property taxes are a huge gain for us.”
She expressed some fear that increasing fees comes with the fear of discouraging further building applications.
“I look at an empty lot in the south end worth $5,000 that would pay $168 in property taxes, but if we could get a $500,000 building on it it would be a real benefit to us.”
A presentation given to council showed that the increase in fees would bring up the price of building a new home worth $190,000 by $86, while a new commercial building worth $4 million would increase by over $1,700.
