Property taxes are going up in Halifax. Services will likely be cut anyway.
Property taxes are going up in Halifax. Services will likely be cut anyway.
In trying to prevent a large tax increase, Halifax councillors face another problem. They have to find more than $13 million in savings -- that means cuts.
“Everything that we’re going to be talking about is going to hurt,” said Paul Russell, councillor for district 15 and chair of the budget committee. “It’s not going to be an easy budget year at all.”
Back in November, staff proposed a eight per cent hike to the average tax bill and councillors directed staff to find a way to halve that. This week, a staff report outlined the possibilities in a long list of potential cuts or ways to raise revenue.
On the list is reductions to transit service and a 25-cent increase in fares.
“I think that’s absolutely the wrong place to cut budgets from,” one transit user told CTV Atlantic on Friday afternoon.
Another proposed cut would see the Halifax Regional Municipality reduce career firefighters through attrition at some stations outside the urban core.
The committee is floating the possibility of charging for street parking on Saturdays in Downtown Halifax and Dartmouth and is considering eliminating the senior snow program.
Reducing snow clearing from sidewalks and weekly green bin pick-up in the summer is also up for debate.
“Having them every two weeks will save almost a million dollars,” Russell said.
Arts are also on the chopping block, including $100,000 in grant money to Dartmouth’s Heritage Museum.
“Losing the $100,000 would mean we would have to shut our doors. We would not only shut our doors but we would lose our jobs and the community would lose access to the wonderful history that we have,” said Joanne Pepers, the manager and curator at the Dartmouth Heritage Museum.
The group started a letter writing campaign and is staying optimistic but is still concerned.
“It is just a proposed cut. However we’re very disappointed we’re on the list as a whole,” Pepers said.
All of items on the chopping block are just under consideration for now.
For the next two months, the budget committee will hear from each business unit with the city – libraries, Halifax Transit and others -- to consider options.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived Thursday evening in Ottawa for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Canada and the United States are negotiating a deal that could see asylum seekers turned back at irregular border crossings across the border, including Roxham Road in Quebec.
As the federal government looks to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S., an eastern Ontario mayor says his city needs more help from Ottawa to deal with the influx of asylum seekers arriving through irregular crossings like Roxham Road.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
A majority of Canadians have seen a mistake on their grocery receipts in the last year, according to a new survey conducted by Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
An asteroid discovered just last week will pass closer to the Earth than the orbit of the moon this weekend, an occurrence so rare it happens only once in a decade, according to NASA.
The number of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits are at record lows and down 44 per cent from last year, new figures from Statistics Canada show.
Two Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) sisters from Montreal are on a mission that is close to their hearts: to save their ancestors' first language by developing video games young and old can play.
An Ontario man said he was shocked when his truck was stolen not once but twice, and the second time it was taken he was surprised to discover he was no longer covered for theft.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
For the first time, the owner of a building in Old Montreal has responded to questions about the fire — through his lawyer — addressing allegations that the building was unsafe.
The political class at the National Assembly has condemned the 'violent' and 'hateful' remarks that columnist Gilles Proulx allegedly made about Quebec solidaire MNAs during Richard Martineau's show on Qub radio in recent weeks.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
The co-owners of a new liquidation store in North Bay, Samuel Quesnel and Chloé Boivenue, say they want to bring a treasure hunt shopping experience to the city.
The new provincial budget features items specific to southwestern Ontario, including a new English public elementary school in London, Ont. that will serve 556 students and include 88 licensed childcare spaces.
A young Strathroy, Ont. man believes there's a promising way forward in the effort to fight his disease. But, he's being told, right now, that path isn't open to him. Friends and family are stepping up to try and make a case for Kyle McPhee to receive immunotherapy treatments.
Manitoba First Nation police have arrested a man connected with a shooting on March 19 on Long Plain First Nation that resulted in the community going on lockdown.
Manitoba’s labour force is growing at a rate to supply enough workers for available positions into 2026, according to the province’s labour market outlook.
Ottawa residents are being told to expect road closures, transit delays and heightened security in the downtown core today, as U.S. President Joe Biden continues his visit to the capital. CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at what you need to know about President Biden's second day in Ottawa.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived Thursday evening in Ottawa for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
An alleged victim of a former staff member of Legacy Christian Academy can now be identified after she successfully petitioned in court to have a publication ban lifted.
In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s provincial budget, school divisions in Saskatchewan were expecting funding levels to increase, with the province repeatedly touting its $1 billion surplus.
Following a court appearance Thursday, a B.C. woman facing more than 20 charges – including manslaughter – in connection with alleged druggings of men who used escort services was remanded into custody.
The man killed in West Vancouver earlier this week was a retired urologist who was involved in several legal disputes over valuable real estate, CTV News has learned.
A recent report from the province’s privacy commissioner says the Métis Addictions Council of Saskatchewan Inc. (MACSI) failed to take appropriate steps after patient treatment files were discovered in a recycling bin.
A Victoria man’s life of crime has turned into one of survival, hope and advocacy amid ongoing conversations in the community about how best to tackle public safety matters.
