‘Everything’s going up’: Some residents worried about property tax increase in Halifax budget

Halifax residents are reacting to the budget that was passed on Tuesday.

People living within the Halifax Regional Municipality are left updating their budgets after city councillors did the same on Tuesday.

After months of scrutinizing items line by line, council ratified the spending plan Tuesday.

Municipal taxes are going up 9.5 per cent, but weighted against decreasing provincial and mandatory contributions, final bills will go up by 7.5 per cent.

According to the city, that means $284 more on the average single-family home’s bill.

“For some people, that $200 or $300 in property tax increase is going to make a big difference,” said HRM resident John Lavoie.

Some homeowners CTV News spoke to say the accumulation is the frustration.

“Considering all of the hikes in literally every aspect of our lives, it just feels like another increase, another drop in the bucket,” said Alex MacInnis. “It’s almost desensitizing to a sense that it’s just another number, another increase.”

“I think it’s pretty steep for a lot of people,” said Greg Williams. “I think everything’s going up at the moment. The price of gas is going up. I think it’s going to tax a lot of people more than what it should be doing.”

The budget includes funding for the Windsor Street Exchange Redevelopment, 10 new firefighters, the fast-tracking of 10 new transit buses, road safety programs, and a focus on limiting debt.

Some councillors argued spending money on things like transit will help make life more affordable, while others said it’s about “fair taxes,” not the lowest taxes.

Mayor Andy Fillmore and two councillors voted against the budget, including Coun. Shawn Cleary.

On Wednesday, he told CTV News that’s in part due to increasing transit fares, saying the transit Core Service Plan doesn’t go far enough, and concerns about continuously rising police budgets.

“On balance, when I look at all of those combined, it just added up to too many cons and not enough pros for me to support this year’s budget,” Cleary said.

Cleary said there is no consensus amongst the public on what was desired, referencing “several hundred emails” demanding taxes don’t climb, some asking for the tax bill to be cut, while “lots of people” wanted more spending on certain line items.

“Just because we’ve had a debate and we’ve landed where we land, doesn’t mean everyone has to vote the same way,” he said. “In fact, I think we do our residents a disservice if we just have a lot of groupthinks on council.

“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, and everyone’s entitled to their own vote.”

In the end, the budget passed with a 14 to three vote.

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