Halifax council approves $1.33B operating budget

Halifax council has approved a $1.33 billion operating budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

After weeks of reports, discussions, and meetings, the Halifax council has approved the billion-dollar operating budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

Council approved the budget by a vote of 11-to-three at a meeting on Tuesday. Councillors Shawn Cleary, Virginia Hinch and Laura White were the dissenting votes.

The operating budget will be $1.33 billion while the capital budget will be $314 million. The municipality is also expecting $1.02 billion in property tax revenues and $307 million in other revenues.

The municipality says the average residential and commercial property tax bill is increasing by 5.2 per cent, which means the average single-family home tax bill will go up by $117 this fiscal year.

In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the average single-family household total tax bill went up by $214 (6.3 per cent).

The residential tax rate will be unchanged at 0.770.

The budget will include funding for:

• 20 new firefighters
• 14 new RCMP officers
• life extensions for 10 transit buses
• expansion of youth programs
• $150 million for redevelopment construction of the Windsor Street Exchange

With this year’s budget passed, Mayor Andy Fillmore wants council to consider major changes to the next one and pushed a motion forward directing staff to examine ways to speed up the budget process, and to find new revenue sources and internal savings and efficiencies.

“We have a very long process, relative to other Canadian municipalities and it consumes a lot of staff resources in terms of salary and folks on deck to be at the council chamber and it also keeps council’s attention for longer than average time,” said Fillmore.

Longtime Dartmouth councillor Sam Austin said the budget process is long and demanding but it’s proven over time that it works.

“The process is the worst option except for all the others, right?” said Austin. “It is long and it’s demanding and it puts a lot of demands on staff and it puts a lot of pressure on councillors, and everyone knows February and March is the hardest month-and-a-half in the city hall calendar.”

Austin added, despite the hard work, it’s worth the effort.

Council did pass the mayor’s motion that will now request staff to come back to council on ways to improve the budget process and improve the municipalities overall business plan.

Aside from streamlining the budget process, Fillmore wants to cap spending next year and look for internal cost savings and efficiencies.

“If that means removing duplicative processes, if that means redirecting resources, staff and financial resources, to be focussing more closely on core services delivery,” said Fillmore. “I think those are important things to do.”

Finding new revenue sources will be key to keeping taxes low. Right now 82 per cent of Halifax’s budget comes through taxes and that’s too high, says Fillmore. He believes council can find new revenue streams by collaborating better with other levels of government.

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