Halifax council defers final decision on stormwater fees

Halifax Regional Council has asked for yet another staff report before making a decision on how to charge residents for stormwater right-of-way fees.

Staff will write a report for council that will look at the impact of adding the Halifax Water right-of-way fee to the the area rate for property taxes.

The motion was put forward by District 7 Councillor Waye Mason. Eleven members of council supported his motion.

Three councillors voted against it: District 14 Councillor Lisa Blackburn, District 16 Councillor Tim Outhit and District 2 Councillor David Hendsbee.

Stormwater is the run-off from rainfall that goes into the city’s sewer and ditch system.

The stormwater fee was introduced in 2013 following a UARB ruling. In its first year Halifax paid for the $3.9 million charge through a surplus account.

Then in 2014, residents were charged $39 on their Halifax Water bill to cover the costs of the fee.

Following public protests against the charge, the city took over billing from Halifax Water, and applied a $42 charge to all properties within the service area.

However, as one staff report points out, that sparked other issues because people who own condos and trailer parks were being charged the fee two or three times.

The current report says more than 800 condo owners paid the fee two or three times because, their parking spots and storage units had separate property IDs from their condos.

To address these concerns, Mason wants to make the stormwater right-of-way charge proportional to property taxes.

If that goes ahead, the fee will show up as a separate line on residents’ property tax bills, allowing them to see the exact fee being charged.

Outhit, however, said the flat stormwater charge should be returned to Halifax Water bills, so all accounts are charged equally.

He said he’s “philosophically and ethically” opposed to Mason’s proposal because he thinks it could again lead to some people being double charged.