8 per cent property tax increase recommended for HRM

[Keith P.]

From the Herald:

https://www.saltwire.com/halifax/new...hrm-100797117/

City staff are recommending an eight per cent increase for residential and commercial property taxes for next year.

“The proposed tax increase for 2023/24 is significant,” staff wrote in the budget direction report released on Friday ahead of the budget committee meeting next week, which launches the budget season.

For the average HRM homeowner, that’s an extra $173 and an extra $3,955 for business owners.

HRM is facing escalating inflation while mitigation efforts “are now depleted and the municipality is faced with balancing increasing cost of services with households already coping with inflation.”

HRM collects over 82 per cent of its revenues from property taxes.

Last month, staff told council that inflation is driving up costs while revenue from deed transfer taxes is declining.

“We have hit the top of deed transfer tax,” CFO Jerry Blackwood told Halifax regional council in Oct. He said about 75 per cent of the municipality’s surplus was driven by the deed transfer tax in the past five years and revenues from deed transfer taxes are expected to decline by about $7 million.

As anyone with 2 clues could have predicted, the gravy train is pulling into the station and now we are back in the real world. HRM's spending over the last few years has been completely unsustainable and the problems are myriad. From pissing away money on vanity/signaling/unpopular special interest projects, to bloat in the bureaucracy, to ridiculously rich collective agreements, there is a huge issue facing the nabobs at City Hall. If Council wants any chance at getting re-elected - despite not deserving one - they need to make significant cuts. The electorate will not stand for a tax increase like this.

On the bright side, if they fail to address this we will likely see wholesale change around the Council table after the election.

[someone123]

Again the reporting is a little confusing. What component is rate increases and what component is coming from assessment increases or inflation? The base rate of inflation is about 8% right now and population growth in the city is likely in the 2-3% range, so the "baseline" budget increase is around 10%.

[Querce]

Originally Posted by someone123

Again the reporting is a little confusing. What component is rate increases and what component is coming from assessment increases or inflation? The base rate of inflation is about 8% right now and population growth in the city is likely in the 2-3% range, so the "baseline" budget increase is around 10%.

The recommendation is for an 8% increase in the average property tax bill, aka no "baseline" increase. All in all, it'll probably mean a slight increase in the property tax rate.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Querce

The recommendation is for an 8% increase in the average property tax bill, aka no "baseline" increase. All in all, it'll probably mean a slight increase in the property tax rate.

Budget overview PDF: https://cdn.halifax.ca/sites/default...etOverview.pdf

It looks like commercial is getting a rate increase while residential is getting a decrease. Average nominal residential tax bill going up by 4.6% or so which is sub inflation right now. So the "real" change in residential taxes is something like -2%.

[kzt79]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

From the Herald:

https://www.saltwire.com/halifax/new...hrm-100797117/




As anyone with 2 clues could have predicted, the gravy train is pulling into the station and now we are back in the real world. HRM's spending over the last few years has been completely unsustainable and the problems are myriad. From pissing away money on vanity/signaling/unpopular special interest projects, to bloat in the bureaucracy, to ridiculously rich collective agreements, there is a huge issue facing the nabobs at City Hall. If Council wants any chance at getting re-elected - despite not deserving one - they need to make significant cuts. The electorate will not stand for a tax increase like this.

On the bright side, if they fail to address this we will likely see wholesale change around the Council table after the election.

Don't hold your breath. It seems to me the average voter has little understanding of these realities and/or doesn't care. We've seen more than one incompetent (fiscally and otherwise) councillor get re-elected multiple times.