Well the economy is strong
which is very good for our
municipality. Our budget is
$869 million on the operating
side. That's about $4400 for
every home and our finances
and your money is well taken
care of. Our debt is steadily
declining every single year for
a number of years now. We're
doing a better job every year
now taking care of things such
as roads, streets, buildings and
every year we try to add one or
two new services for example
the new four pad or the skating oval.
The value of the homes is
set by an arms length agency and
they provide those values to us
every year. For us, our job is to
set the tax rates that apply to
all the different properties out
there. So we have general tax rates,
we have area rates, we have transit
rates. For water and sewer those
amounts are set by the Halifax
Water Commission and we don't
charge for water and sewer on the
property tax bill. When you are
looking at a single family home the
average tax bill is about $2500 a year.
But of course that is an average so
those bills for 80% of single family
homeowners those bills range from
$1000-$4000 and they benchmark or
compare relatively well to other cities
across the country. When you are
looking at commercial tax bills, the
average commercial tax bill is $43,000.
But of course that quite a range of
different types of businesses. It covers
everything from the corner store and
the gas station to the big mall and the
warehouse. Those ones to don't
compare too badly across the country,
they're fairly comparable.
Well there's only one taxpayer supporting
all three levels of government in Nova
Scotia. So when you look at our tax bill,
on a typical residential family home,
probably about 30% of that bill goes
to pay for school boards and other
provincial type costs. That leaves
us a smaller amount to provide all
the important services, the day to day
services that people like and need.
So police, fire, streets, roads, libraries.
Those sorts of things. These are all
important, we are responsible for
them and you know they are expensive
to provide on a individual basis.
We're a fairly large organization.
We have a lot of details and complexity.
But at the end of the day the decisions
we have to make are very similar to
those that a homeowner would make.
We face cost pressures and inflation
for things like streets and roads, heating
fuel for buildings, gasoline for police
cars, for transit buses. Those things
affect us, they affect you. Now most
homeowners wouldn't be too excited
about paying money to fix the roof or
paint the house. They'd rather spend
the money on a family vacation,
a big screen TV and it's the same
with us. We have to make the decision,
shall we maintain our facilities and
upgrade them or shall we spend
money on something new or should
we try to give money back and keep
taxes as low as we can. We're always
looking for ways to make things more
efficient. To make things better for
people - better services, lower taxes,
more efficiencies. So I think at the end
of the day those are the things we
need help in making decisions from
the citizens who pay the taxes. What
would they rather see. That's what the
budget consultations are all about.
Now you know a little bit more about
your tax dollars. Tell us what you think.
Visit our citizen engagement website
and tell us your spending priorities.
shapeyourcityhalifax.ca