Amherst

All dollar amounts on this page are in Canadian dollars.

City introduction

The original Town of Amherst was established in 1764, two miles west of its present location, following the Expulsion of the Acadians, when New England settlers were invited to settle communities along the shores of the Bay of Fundy. A grist mill and tannery were built over a mile east of that first settlement, and the community gradually moved closer to them, so that by 1850 Amherst stood where it is found today.

By 1880 the railway had been built, and national policy promoting Canadian industry guaranteed a market for local products and assisted the town's growth; because of the railroad's importance, Amherst's first industries were built near the station, and some of those buildings are still in use. The Town names the Amherst Boot and Shoe Company, Christie Trunk and Bag Company, Hewson Woolen Mills, Rhodes Curry Company and the Amherst Piano Company among its well-known manufacturers. In 1908 the manufacturing output of Amherst's industries was not exceeded by any centre in the Maritime Provinces — the era of "Busy Amherst" — and many of the fine old buildings along Victoria Street, built of locally produced sandstone and brick by local craftsmen, are considered industrial artifacts of that period of tremendous industrial growth.

Source: Town of Amherst — Historic Amherst — Town of Amherst (Town of Amherst).

Total residential tax rate chart

Amherst total residential tax rate, 2019/20–2026/27

Bars: Amherst total residential tax rate, by fiscal year, in dollars per $100 of assessment.

Bars only. No comparison lines are drawn: a tax rate is not a percentage change, so it cannot share the percent axis used on the other provinces' combined charts. The scope notes explain the calibre.

Bars — Amherst total residential tax rate ($ per $100 of assessment)

Scope notes

All figures are the Town of Amherst's total residential tax rate in the provincial table's calibre: dollars per $100 of assessment — the general rate plus the provincial mandatory and community support amounts billed with it (in the Town's 2026/27 budget: general 1.288 + provincial mandatory 0.304 + community support 0.078 = total 1.670).

The 2026/27 total is unchanged at 1.670, but its structure changed: the general rate rose to 1.288 from 1.259 in 2025/26 while the total stayed the same. This page therefore never says only “rate unchanged” for Amherst — the total and its structure are separate facts.

A tax rate is not a bill. The bill on a given property also moves with its assessed value, and Nova Scotia's Assessment Cap (CAP) limits the annual increase in the taxable assessment of eligible owner-occupied homes — so a flat rate does not mean a flat bill, and a higher rate does not raise every bill by the same amount. Nova Scotia's municipal fiscal year runs April 1 to March 31, which is why the years here are fiscal years. No comparison lines are drawn on this page's chart: inflation is a percentage change and an exchange-rate index is an index, while a tax rate is neither — putting a rate on a percent axis would present it as an increase %, which it is not.

Data behind the chart

The data table below carries one row per fiscal year, in order, with the total residential tax rate for that year, or “No data” where no rate was published.

Fiscal year	Total residential tax rate ($ per $100 of assessment)
2019/20	1.655
2020/21	1.655
2021/22	1.670
2022/23	1.670

Fiscal year	Total residential tax rate ($ per $100 of assessment)
2023/24	1.670
2024/25	1.670
2025/26	1.670
2026/27	1.670

Sources for this chart:

Total residential tax rate, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26: Government of Nova Scotia Open Data, Municipal Property Tax Rates, dataset ure8-3w7m
Total residential tax rate, 2026/27: Town of Amherst, 2026/27 Operating and Capital Budget Report

Total residential tax rate trend

The trend uses one measure only: the total residential tax rate in the provincial table's calibre. Each row is the rate for that fiscal year on that one measure. A year with no verified rate is shown as No data, and no earlier rate is ever repeated into a later year.

Fiscal year	Total residential tax rate ($ per $100 of assessment)
2019/20	1.655
2020/21	1.655
2021/22	1.670
2022/23	1.670

Fiscal year	Total residential tax rate ($ per $100 of assessment)
2023/24	1.670
2024/25	1.670
2025/26	1.670
2026/27	1.670

Separate note — 2026/27 official points, not the rate series

This note is separate from the rate series above and is not part of it. It records official 2026/27 points that are stated on a different basis — general rates, average bill figures, or a class-wide budget wording — so they stay visible without being merged into the total residential rate series.

Structure of the 2026/27 total: general tax rate 1.288 (2025/26: 1.259) + mandatory provincial contributions area rate 0.304 + community support area rate 0.078 = total residential/resource rate 1.670 per $100 of assessment. The total is unchanged from 2025/26, but the general-rate component rose from 1.259 to 1.288, so the year must not be described as simply "unchanged" without this structure (Town of Amherst, 2026/27 Operating and Capital Budget Report, https://Amherst.Ca/town-departments/finance/budgets/6633-2026-2027-operating-capital-budget-report/file.html; Town of Amherst, Tax Rates page, https://Amherst.Ca/tax-rates.html).

The same components produce the 2026/27 total commercial rate of 4.470 per $100: general rate 4.088 + mandatory provincial contributions 0.304 + community support 0.078 (Town of Amherst, Tax Rates page, https://Amherst.Ca/tax-rates.html).

Uniform charges shown on the Town's 2026/2027 tax rates page, separate from the per-$100 rates: wastewater treatment facility uniform charge $103.50 per annum and solid waste uniform charge $250 per annum (Town of Amherst, Tax Rates page, https://Amherst.Ca/tax-rates.html).

Method

This page uses one measure only, every year: the total residential tax rate in the provincial table's calibre (dollars per $100 of assessment).

The 2019/20–2025/26 values are the Government of Nova Scotia Open Data Municipal Property Tax Rates table, checked row by row for this municipality. The 2026/27 value, where one is shown, is from the municipality's own adopted budget or official tax-rate document for that year.

Nova Scotia's fiscal year runs April 1 to March 31. Eligible owner-occupied homes are under the provincial Assessment Cap (CAP), which limits the annual rise in taxable assessment; individual bills can therefore move differently from the rate.

How to read this page

Bars are the Amherst total residential tax rate for each fiscal year. The axis is a rate axis, not a percentage axis.

A taller bar is a higher rate; it says nothing by itself about how any one household's bill changed, because bills also move with assessed values and the Assessment Cap.

A year shown as “No data” has no bar. No rate is carried forward from the year before, and no value is interpolated.

Official points stated on other bases (general rates, average bill figures) are kept in the separate note, never merged into the series.

Sources

Town of Amherst introduction: Historic Amherst — Town of Amherst (Town of Amherst)
Town of Amherst: Historic Amherst — Town of Amherst (Town of Amherst)
Government of Nova Scotia Open Data, Municipal Property Tax Rates, dataset ure8-3w7m
Town of Amherst, 2026/27 Operating and Capital Budget Report

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This page is an independent guide. It is not a government site and it is not an official site. It is general information only and is not tax advice. Check the official Town of Amherst source before relying on a figure.