The new year means big adjustments for many communities throughout New Brunswick.

Local governance reform changes that have been in the works for months went into effect on Jan. 1.

A total of 340 entities have been restructured into 77 local governments and 12 rural districts.

Several municipalities were merged into larger local governments and, in some cases, also joined with some neighbouring local service districts (LSDs).

The communities of Saint John, Rothesay, Quispamsis, Grand Manan, Campobello Island, Riverview, Memramcook and Petitcodiac, among others, did not see any changes to their boundaries.

Thousands of New Brunswickers went to the polls in late November to elect their municipal representatives.

First elections were held in 50 local governments to elect entirely new councils. Nine other communities held byelections to fill new council positions created during the local governance reform process.

The 12 newly-created rural districts also held first elections to elect members to their rural district advisory committee.

There were no elections in 18 communities as they were not impacted by the municipal reform or the number of voters in the local government increased by less than 15 per cent.

New names were chosen last year for the 89 entities created through local governance reform.

However, those names only apply to the local government administrative body. The names of the communities in which people live and their mailing addresses are not changing.