By Alec Bruce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Guysborough Journal
GUYSBOROUGH: The declared value of building permits in the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) may not reflect the true worth of the community’s future residential stock, Development Officer Debbie Torrey told the committee of the whole on Jan. 3.
“When people are declaring value, there are some who are realistic – some who are actually using real construction numbers,” she said during her regular report. “But probably the majority of the [permits] don’t really reflect the true cost. People have the right to put whatever value the feel on their building permit application.”
People feel that the number they put on the building permit is what they’re going to get assessed for, and that’s something Torrey said was absolutely not the case.
“I’ve never seen a building permit value match up with an assessed value. For example, when I put my mini home in Manchester up it was $165,000 and the assessment had it at just barely over $90,000,” she said. “That’s just one example of how assessments work in our municipality.”
That said, Torrey noted, the municipality is up in terms of permits issued.
“The number of actual permits in our municipality went from 94 [in 2022] to 113 in the past calendar year,” she said. “Our declared permit value went from $9.6 million $16.5 million.”
Torrey said Guysborough County’s three municipalities combined – MODG, the District of St. Mary’s and the Town of Mulgrave – reported 173 new building permits in 2023.