Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, residents will see an increase in their property taxes and sewer fees following approval of the town’s 2026 budget. The budget was approved in February 2026 for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2026, and ends a two-year period of frozen tax rates as the town moves to fund major wastewater projects and rising operational costs.
Under the 2026 plan, the residential property tax rate will rise to $1.88 per $100 of assessment and the penalty for late payments has been set at 1.25 per cent per month. These changes were approved by Bridgewater Town Council to help the community manage debt servicing and the costs associated with expanding and upgrading infrastructure.
The town froze tax rates in 2024 and 2025, but officials say current growth and the need to begin debt repayment require new revenues to support a $69.4-million wastewater overhaul. That project — funded through a federal-provincial-municipal agreement — is intended to reduce flooding risk and to enable growth, including plans that the town says could support roughly 3,000 new housing units.
Sewer rates are also rising as the town moves toward a cost-recovery model for the utility so the service pays for itself rather than being subsidized by the general tax base. While town materials say it is building toward a population of 10,000 and beyond, the most recent Statistics Canada census (2021) recorded a population of 8,790 for Bridgewater.
