HRM staff report recommends 9.7% increase to average property tax bill - Action News
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Nova Scotia

HRM staff report recommends 9.7% increase to average property tax bill

Halifax Regional Municipality's budget committee will consider a staff report recommendingan increase of 9.7 per cent to the average property tax bill when it meets for the first time on Tuesday to discuss the 2024-25 budget.

Tax hike needed to cover revenue shortfall of $68.7M, report says

City hall with its clock tower and three-story facade stands over grassy areas of a large square
HRM staff is proposing a 9.7 per cent property tax increase in 2023-24. The municipality's budget committee will discuss the report on Tuesday. (Robert Short/CBC)

Halifax Regional Municipality's budget committee will consider a staff report recommendinga 9.7 per cent increase to the average property tax billwhen it meets for the first time on Tuesday to discuss the 2024-2025 budget.

This is the first stage of a months-long process before theactual budget is finalized, likely in April.

The report says, as in the previous year, the municipality is "forced to tackle ongoing inflation and continued population growth."

The tax hike is needed to cover a revenue shortfall of $68.7 million, the report says.

In its recommendations for the 2023-24 budget,staff proposed an eight per cent tax hike. That figure was eventually reduced to 5.9 per cent.

A woman in a crocheted to and wearing sunglasses speaks into a microphone.
Coun. Cathy Deagle-Gammon said she has already heard from residents that an increase of almost 10 per cent is too much. (Dylan Jones/CBC)

Coun. Cathy Deagle-Gammon, the vice-chair of the audit and finance standing committee,saidthe municipality is not allowed to have a deficit so there are only a few options available to it.

"We can do that by debtfinancing, we can do it by changing the tax rate and we can do it by cutting services," she said.

"Those are the three options that are available to council and, as we move through this journey, those will be the things that will be looked at."

Residents not happy

Deagle-Gammon said she has already been hearing from residents saying that they are already being forced to cut back and an almost10 per cent tax increase is too much.

She said council has to be "very, very conscious" of the impact budget decisionshave on residents.

A blonde woman smiles at the camera wearing a black jacket and blue top
Coun. Pamela Lovelace said the original proposal in the staff report was for a 15 per cent increase but was brought down to 9.7 per cent. (Lyndsay Doyle)

Coun. Pamela Lovelace said the original proposal in the current staff report was for a 15 per cent increase but it was brought down to 9.7 per cent.

Lovelace said she anticipates some long and difficult debates as council works to finalize a budget.

"I will be asking departments to consolidate to ensure that they're streamlining their services and ... working as hard as we can to ... decrease it as much as we can."

Businesses still recovering

In addition to the burden such a large increase would place on homeowners and new renters, Lovelace said many businesses are still struggling to recover from COVID-19 and wildfires.

Lovelace said she does not think the 9.7per cent increase is acceptable but she recognizes that the municipality is struggling to deal with deficiencies in a number of areas, includingroad infrastructure and transit.

She said the municipality is heading in a direction where it is becoming less and less affordable.

A older white man with brown hair is wearing rectangular glasses and a blue button up shirt.
Kevin Russell is the executive director of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia. (Dave Laughlin/CBC)

Kevin Russell, executive director of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia, saidthe suggested tax increase would be devastatingfor the apartment rental industry and would cause a decrease of investment in rental properties.

Russell said most people living in the city would want to see a reduction in the size of the municipal government until the economy stabilizes.