BAL 2025

Following the Capital Budget and the Operations Budget, Regional Council moved on to debate the Budget Adjustment List (BAL) which represent either overs or unders to the the overall budget. The BAL has been referred to as the 'playoffs' of budget season, as this is where we sharpen our pencils and do our part to either add to, or cut from, programs and services to best serve our communities and their pocketbooks. The outcome of that exercise also represents our final budget for the 2025/2026 year.

The only item I had added to the BAL was an addition of 10 firefighters for HRFE. I was able to successfully get that passed in a vote of 15-2 (read my comments here). Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency will always be a priority for me and for District 13, and I was proud to get this budget over across the finish line.

Also of importance for District 13 is the addition of 14 new HD RCMP officers. While these new officers will not reside in District 13, there will be better coverage, as one new satellite office is being built in the Beechville area with 6 new staff. 

A much reported issue on the BAL was the Armored Rescue Vehicle for Halifax Regional Police. While this budget item came with vocal opposition, it's important to note that Council's decision to fund the purchase of one was made out of necessity. HRM has a legal obligation to ensure the safety of HRP and the Emergency Response Team, and with an ongoing occupational health and safety complaint from the Halifax Police Union, we could be fined if an ARV was not funded. I voted in favor of the purchase of the ARV. 

In other good news, reduction to the Climate Action Tax was never pursued, and HalifACT remains fully funded and intact.  It had initially been put on the BAL, but was never tabled for debate and not moved forward. 

A small cut was made to the green bin program, as Council voted to reduce the enhanced weekly green cart by three cycles to run from July 21 to Sept. 12. The biweekly service will continue throughout the remainder of the year.

Some big cuts weren't actually cuts, but spending reserves. The BAL under for the one-time use of the Central Library Reserve (at $10 million) did pass, although I did not vote in favor of it. Other important work, like road safety BAL overs, were funded by way of reserve spending as well. While I admire Mayor Fillmore's commitment to a 0% tax increase for the 2025/26 budget year, and I believe we are in an affordability crisis, I do feel as though some budgeting principles I hold were suspended to get us to a 0% increase. I have always maintained that if you can't afford it, you can't afford it on credit, and in this case, our creditor is our future self. I said as much at council. To maintain this low tax rate, work needs to be done to further streamline service delivery and find other sources of revenue. Again, while I think this is important work (and likely the most important work), it's work that I personally haven't seen done yet. 

With the BAL voting complete, HRM tax rate remains flat, but property taxes will raise 4.7% (read more on it here).