Halifax Municipal Elections

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by j.graham

It seems to have existed since at least 2017 according to this: https://www.halifax.ca/home-property...taxes/tax-bill

It only applies to households within 1km of a transit stop. Maybe the transit changes brought a stop closer to your home?

Thanks, that probably explains it, though I'm not aware of any new stops being added within the last 6 months (when the previous tax bill was sent out), and on the map at the link, my street is not included (curiously).

It's fine if that is the case, but it would have been nice to see an explanation on the tax bill. I see this more as a communication error than a tax problem (as mentioned, I don't mind paying taxes for services rendered), as nobody wants to open a bill and find it's a few hundred dollars more than expected, with no explanation as to why.

Regardless, it looks like I will have to give them a call for clarification.

[j.graham]

Originally Posted by someone123

What a strange model.

Halifax traditionally had one of the highest farebox recovery ratios around, with users paying an unusually high proportion of the cost of operating the transit service (70%) while capital expenditures are often paid partially by the province and feds. The service does not only benefit people who live near transit or takes transit; it reduces the number of cars on the road and so reduces the amount of road capacity needed. Of course there is also park-and-ride and some people get on and off of buses or ferries that are more than 1 km from where they live.

Historically the tax arguments in Halifax often followed a traditional motte-and-bailey style argument (fallacy) that was based around the idea that poor rural people living in Musquodoboit shouldn't be paying for urban services. Somehow this morphed into low taxes for Hammonds Plains. And it was all kind of a lie since rural services are so much more expensive. From the perspective of the city's coffers, high-density development more than pays its way while rural areas tend not to even if they receive lower service levels. The far east half of the HRM should not even be part of the municipality, while part of Hants arguably should have been included.

To be clear, all residents pay a smaller fee for "regional transit". This goes towards ferries, MetroLink, and MetroX. I agree with you that the tax system does seem backwards though. And that transit benefits car drivers.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by j.graham

To be clear, all residents pay a smaller fee for "regional transit". This goes towards ferries, MetroLink, and MetroX. I agree with you that the tax system does seem backwards though. And that transit benefits car drivers.

It's a pretty tenuous benefit for taxpayers in places like Ecum Secum. But to HRM taxpayer is spared from HRM's craving for revenue to feed their spending addiction.

[Keith P.]

A disappointing but not surprising outcome for the election as the sheep-like voters returned most incumbents who re-offered except the worthless Zurawski and (surprisingly to me) Steve Streach. Unfortunately the likes of Mason, Cleary, Mancini and Blackburn were re-elected. While some are celebrating that the new Council will have an equal gender split of males and females, the important thing would be the competence of those new Council members and at least a couple (Kent and Morse) are rabid NDPers and both are quite unpleasant, rather clueless, and arrogant. Hopefully the other newcomers are better than those two. Regardless, it looks like we are in for 4 more years of social justice posturing, pandering to fringe group activists, and neglect of HRM’s core mandates.

[pchipman]

Glad to hear Halifax is on the right track. Been away for a while, but I'm looking forward to moving back to a vibrant and progressive city

[MonctonRad]

I just want to take a second and congratulate former SSP participants Waye Mason and Sam Austin on winning re-election to HRM council.

Whether or not you may agree with their particular political philosophies, it certainly takes a great deal of fortitude to put your name forward for public office, and to endure feedback which is not always positive. Good luck to you both!

[mleblanc]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I just want to take a second and congratulate former SSP participants Waye Mason and Sam Austin on winning re-election to HRM council.

Whether or not you may agree with their particular political philosophies, it certainly takes a great deal of fortitude to put your name forward for public office, and to endure feedback which is not always positive. Good luck to you both!

Absolutely agreed. Congratulations to you both, thank you for what you bring to our city.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by pchipman

Glad to hear Halifax is on the right track. Been away for a while, but I'm looking forward to moving back to a vibrant and progressive city

Halifax has been on the wrong track for several years. I fear that with this Council they are heading for the precipice where the bridge is out.

[j.graham]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Halifax has been on the wrong track for several years. I fear that with this Council they are heading for the precipice where the bridge is out.

Luckily for Halifax we have democracy and not appointment by Keith!

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by j.graham

Luckily for Halifax we have democracy and not appointment by Keith!

Yes, the people get the government they deserve. Although I think they will soon come to understand that not even foolish people will deserve what they have in store.

[MonctonRad]

It should be noted that I wished our former participants well because they showed courage for standing for public office, and congratulations should be in order for their commitment to civic engagement. This does not necessarily mean I agree with the policies they stand for, and Keith is right to be concerned about the fiscal state of HRM.

As an outside observer, I will refrain from making further comment.

[Summerville]

But I think that we now have a good opportunity to measure the progress (or lack of) from the new council. Personally, I believe that it is great to have parity with enough turnover to provide new ideas.

In four years, will Halifax's economy continue to be booming? We will continue to out pace other cities in terms of population growth?

As the city grows, we will probably see a greater interest in affordable housing, crime and other social issues.

[pchipman]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Halifax has been on the wrong track for several years. I fear that with this Council they are heading for the precipice where the bridge is out.

Can you provide specifics why you think this is the case? My impression is that the city has been experiencing a substantial boom in urban core construction and in-migration over the past 10-ish years. Does this represent the wrong track? Or are you specifically referring to the bike lanes? Admittingly, I don't keep track of the nitty-gritty municipal financials so there may be some clear indications that the financial precipice is looming. Please enlighten.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by pchipman

Can you provide specifics why you think this is the case? My impression is that the city has been experiencing a substantial boom in urban core construction and in-migration over the past 10-ish years.

HRM has indeed been having a boom in immigration and a resultant boom in new construction. HRM Council has had nothing to do with the former and, it can be argued, has actively inhibited the latter via its restrictions on new development, height controls, and slow, labyrinthine processes. Now we have a "progressive" Council who will likely introduce rent controls on rental properties, making it even more difficult to find accommodation for those new arrivals and discouraging the development of new rental properties. Then we have the bigger problem which the former Council were happy to ignore - the decline in tax revenue due to COVID-related business failures, especially downtown, the collapse of the tourism and convention sector, and ballooning office space vacancy rates, leading to a financial crisis for the municipality because they failed to take any meaningful measures to limit spending. Now we are potentially in for several years of rainy days, while they continue to run the most bloated and expensive municipal govt in Eastern Canada. I believe the chickens will soon come home to roost. Residential property owners thinking of moving might want to pull the rip cord sooner rather than later and move somewhere outside of the HRM empire before their tax bills skyrocket.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Summerville

But I think that we now have a good opportunity to measure the progress (or lack of) from the new council. Personally, I believe that it is great to have parity with enough turnover to provide new ideas.

In four years, will Halifax's economy continue to be booming? We will continue to out pace other cities in terms of population growth?

As the city grows, we will probably see a greater interest in affordable housing, crime and other social issues.

HRM has already demonstrated some of the symptoms of "progressive council disease", such as removal of statues and pandering to left-wing special interests. One can only hope that it does not follow the path of other "progressive" municipal govts like those of Seattle, NYC, and Portland, by letting groups like ANTIFA run wild, terrorizing the citizenry while handcuffing their police forces from preventing property damage, allowing activist groups intent on an overthrow of our present economic and governance system to run wild, imposing overbearingly intrusive restrictions on taxpaying property owners and law-abiding residents, and generally behaving in a manner that is well outside any reasonable definition of "good government".

[pchipman]

Interesting take. Thank you for your perspective.

[lirette]

Never thought I'd see "ANTIFA" written anywhere on the Atlantic Provinces Skyscraper page. A record setting amount of fear mongering for one post.

[pchipman]

I think we differ on our definition and interpretation of the term 'progressive', and certainly on the role of anti fascism protests and the use of police force to silence public opposition to brutality and murder. But so it goes.
I suppose time will tell whether this current council will lead to the destruction of east cast civilization as we know it, or will simply continue listening to reasonable and well-supported arguments with an empathetic ear.

[pchipman]

Originally Posted by lirette

Never thought I'd see "ANTIFA" written anywhere on the Atlantic Provinces Skyscraper page. A record setting amount of fear mongering for one post.

Yeah it's a shame. You see this all too often with the wanna-be conservative pundit types. I suppose there are some reasonable arguments hidden amongst the fear somewhere, but expressing them clearly would require a certain level of nuance.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

HRM has already demonstrated some of the symptoms of "progressive council disease", such as removal of statues and pandering to left-wing special interests. One can only hope that it does not follow the path of other "progressive" municipal govts like those of Seattle, NYC, and Portland, by letting groups like ANTIFA run wild, terrorizing the citizenry while handcuffing their police forces from preventing property damage, allowing activist groups intent on an overthrow of our present economic and governance system to run wild, imposing overbearingly intrusive restrictions on taxpaying property owners and law-abiding residents, and generally behaving in a manner that is well outside any reasonable definition of "good government".

LOL... I was following along until I came to ANTIFA... then the eye-rolling commenced.

I just can't take such drivel seriously, unfortunately.