LUNENBURG — Add the Town of Lunenburg to the long list of those who are unhappy with a property assessment. Except in this case, it’s one that belongs to the province of Nova Scotia.

 Last week council voted in favour of appealing the assessed value of the new provincial building which was officially opened July 25, 2008 after being four years in the making.

 Originally, the 16,000-square-foot edifice was estimated to come in at a cost of around $2 million.

 In the end, however, the final tally hit $6.6 million, which did not include the cost of the land on which the structure rests since that was donated to the province by the town.

 Despite the $6.6 million price tag, the 2009 assessment on the land and buildings came in at just $4.135 million, or $2.465 million under its construction cost.

 Mayor Laurence Mawhinney said that since the province pays the commercial tax rate on the property, the difference between the amount of taxes paid on the assessed value compared to what would be paid based on the actual construction cost of the building is significant.

 Based on 2009 rates, the town would collect $81,345 more in taxes from the province should the building be assessed at its construction cost, not including the value of the land, rather than the assessed value.