Employees and visitors at Halifax City Hall were greeted by a neon-yellow message Monday morning spray painted by vandals all over the front doors and steps.
Police are investigating, but say there are currently no suspects in mind.
The act doesn't appear to be random. No other buildings in the area were targeted.
“That's not acceptable,” said Halifax resident Kenny Tillman. “They picked the wrong way to advertise their complaint.”
It's not entirely clear what the message means, but it seems to be politically motivated.
It has contractor Bill Pyke scratching his head.
“Somebody pays me to come in and fix this, and if they're complaining about taxes, where does the money come from? It comes from taxes. Gee, there's a no-brainer,” said Pyke.
Staff say the graffiti appeared sometime between Saturday afternoon and early Monday morning.
Security footage from the front of the building has been turned over to Halifax Regional Police.
“To see if the act was actually caught, and we'd have a better chance of trying to find out who this person or persons were,” said Const. Diane Woodworth of Halifax Regional Police.
After nearly two hours of cleaning, the yellow paint has been removed from the doors.
But the work isn't over. Pyke will have to put a new coat of varnish on the doors, something he did just last spring.
Someone else will be hired to remove the paint from the steps, meaning the cleanup won't be cheap.
“Given the fact that these are specialized doors here at city hall it could be anywhere in the nature of a few thousand dollars. We're not sure yet,” said Tiffany Chase of Halifax Regional Municipality.
Police are asking anyone who may have seen something unusual at Grand Parade over the weekend to come forward.
Halifax Regional Police say the last time they received a vandalism call at City Hall was in 2012.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchie.
