HRM staff report recommends 9.7% property tax hike to address revenue shortfall

A Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) report is recommending a 9.7 per cent hike in property tax bills.

It argues the increase is needed to cover a $68.7 million revenue shortfall. With inflation and population growth, the municipality is looking for ways to deal with rising costs. However, advocates for taxpayers aren’t happy with the proposal.

“We’ve got to question it. Is it any wonder so many people are homeless when the best idea the Halifax Regional Municipality can come up with is another excessive property tax hike,” asks Kevin Russell, executive director of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia.

He says higher property taxes will drive up rents and place pressure on landlords.

“Small rental housing providers who haven’t sold their properties are tired of being under the financial stress of operating their businesses at a financial loss and will sell their properties,” Russell says.

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He says that will reduce the number of affordable units available, including single-family homes and duplexes.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is concerned for families.

“What we’re looking at here is an average property tax increase of over $200, ” says interim Atlantic director Jay Goldberg. “I think that number is very important because there have recently been studies showing that fifty percent of Canadians say they’re 200 dollars away from not being able to pay their bills.”

Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank in Halifax agrees the increase could have an impact.

“The need has gone beyond low and fixed-income families,” says communications director Romaine Rhoden. “We’re seeing more middle-class families coming to us, which means the budget they used to have — that could be used a couple of years ago — it’s not the same. The need is much more.”

The report marks the first stage of a months-long process before the budget is finalized in the spring.

Councillor Cathy Deagle-Gammon, who serves as the vice-chair of the Audit and Finance Standing Committee, says she’s received a lot of feedback from the public and they’ll consider all options.

“Tighten the belts. Do what you need to do, and do not have the taxpayer have this burden, find other ways. Those are the things being said and I can’t dispute them,” Deagle-Gammon says.

The report will be debated at regional council on Tuesday.