Halifax budget meetings leave some local businesses worried

Property tax hikes worry Halifax business owners Annual property tax hikes in Halifax have business owners worried, as they expect to pay higher than inflationary increases.

As Halifax Regional Council reviews the draft municipal budget for this year, local businesses are worried about commercial property tax increase.

“On average businesses pay $45,000 dollars in taxes. Now, last years tax increase was almost $2,000, so taxes are a big component of their expenses,” said Patrick Sullivan, president and CEO of Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

Last year, businesses saw a four per cent increase in property tax. Since then, commercial properties assessments in the Halifax-area has increased up to 17.1 per cent.

In December, city staff recommended a hike in property tax over 10 per cent.

Sullivan said businesses began making calls to the chamber to share their concerns over the cost of the tax and the ways it would impact their business. He said businesses are still recovering from the pandemic and the repayment of the CEBA loans they took during the pandemic, they are not prepared to endure any further setbacks.

Instead, businesses would prefer inflationary increases to their property tax.

“We are pleased the municipality continues to look forward to reduce that but I think we’re still fair ways from an inflationary increase of around 4 per cent,” said Sullivan.

It is also one of the slowest season of the year for many businesses, especially restaurants and hospitality.

At The Old Triangle, fewer customers frequent their establishment, which is common for most businesses during the winter months, however with the news of the potential property tax hikes, the owner, Brendan Doherty is now bracing for the impact of the increase.

“We can all agree the price of everything has gone up so that’s understandable but at the same time it’s never good to see your property bill increase,” he said.

Doherty pays up to $6,000 a year in property tax alone and paying more is going to hurt.

“Restaurants are made of food and beverages and as we’ve seen in this country the price of food and beverage is increasing substantially, so we’re facing a lot of the same issues that everyone is facing. It’s just ours have a couple of extra zeros added onto the end.”

Sullivan said he does not blame the city.

“The city has to fix the roads and maintain infrastructure, so I don’t blame them. The provincial and federal government’s spending is from income tax, while cities rely on property tax to maintain infrastructure. There needs to be a change in the roles the government play in city’s across Canada.”

The final review for the municipal budget is scheduled for April 23.

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