Halifax to keep property tax rate flat, bills going up about 4.7%

The average Halifax homeowner will see their property tax bill go up about 4.7 per cent this year, which is much lower than originally predicted.

On Wednesday, Halifax regional councillors finalized which items should be cut or added to the municipality's 2025-26 budget, after hours of debate that began last week.

They kept the tax rate flat, so it will be the same as last year's $0.770 per $100 of assessment. 

"We are not living in normal times and this is not a regular budget cycle. We need to get out of regular mode and make changes that will get our financial sustainability on track," Mayor Andy Fillmore said last Friday.

"People are anxious, many households and businesses are just hanging on."

Even though the rate won't increase, rising property assessments mean the average single-family residential tax bill with a home assessment of $338,500 will go up about 4.7 per cent this coming year.

That works out to an extra $117 on the average residential bill, for a total of $2,606.

The city is expecting a $1.3-billion operating budget and $318.8 million in capital spending for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Staff originally proposed a 7.6 per cent hike in February to cover the nearly $70 million in new spending compared to last year. But council lowered that percentage through various cuts and the use of reserve accounts.

Most of those reductions were suggested by Fillmore, who campaigned last year on not increasing the tax rate.

During public consultation on the budget over the past weeks, a few Halifax residents did urge councillors to keep taxes low.

Ed Mury said he and his wife, both pensioners, have seen their property tax burden grow considerably as their assessment jumped nearly $190,000 in the past few years.

Some residents 'terrified' of rising costs

"There's people here throughout the city and districts that just cannot afford any more, and they're terrified. I'm included," Mury said at a February meeting.

Even within a flat tax rate, council approved various extra expenses to the regular budget. 

They include 14 new Halifax RCMP officers, 10 extra firefighters who will be at the new West Bedford fire station, extending the life of 10 transit buses to address overcrowding and delays, and a civilian crisis team to handle mental health calls rather than police.

"We're trying to build a better municipality for the people that live here, and this is exactly the type of service that … we should be looking at," Coun. Jean St-Amand said last Friday about the crisis team.

A community mediation pilot was also funded and will start this year. It will be run by the United Way, which will provide mediators as neutral third parties to help residents navigate conflict.

Multiple councillors talked about how the pilot could mean big savings for municipal resources, because bylaw officers, councillors and sometimes police are called to respond to disputes between neighbours.

One of the major savings came from Fillmore's suggestion to use $10 million from the Central Library's reserve, and about $890,000 to remove the planting of 2,000 trees as part of the upcoming year's urban forestry plan.

The library reserve was set up to have money in place for upgrades and eventual replacement for the Central Library. Now, the library will be treated like any other asset and have upgrades funded by other reserve accounts.

Finance staff recommended against using the library money as a one-time shot to cover operating expenses and lower the tax rate, because it is not sustainable. A staff report warned that the move only defers necessary tax increases to next year.

But Fillmore said he will bring forward a motion in April to have municipal staff do a deep dive into city services, and any cuts stemming from that could help keep taxes low in the coming years.

"There are substantial savings that we can find," Fillmore said last Friday.

Budget to be passed in April

Some items were passed that had no direct impact on the tax rate this year due to funds being found in other areas. They include the after-hours team supporting people who are homeless around Halifax, and setting up preventive cancer screening for Halifax firefighters.

Staff will now calculate the impact on the various commercial tax rates. The final budget will be passed in April.

A year ago, council approved a 6.3 per cent tax bill increase as part of an overall $1.3-billion budget for 2024-25.