Capital Budget 2025
Before we begin, it’s important to call out that the 2025/2026 budget is called a ‘transitional budget’, as this year’s budget is the last year of a budget cycle that began 4 years ago and based on the strategies of the previous council. The priorities of this council will be shaped by our own strategy, and will be represented starting in the 2026/2027 budget season.
Important documents to review are:
Big themes from the previous council are called Strategic Initiatives. They are:
- Significant Projects
- Cogswell Exchange
- Halifax Forum redevelopment
- Halifax Regional Police Headquarters
- HalifACT Climate Change Action Plan
- Bus procurement and fleet electrification
- Critical infrastructure/climate resilience improvements
- Integrated Mobility Plan
- Burnside Transit Centre Rebuild
- Mill Cove Ferry
- 12 Strategic Mobility Corridors
- Windsor Street Exchange
These capital projects are baked into the capital budget, and are in varying stages of development. They also represent costs outside of the everyday, ongoing, or maintenance costs to municipal infrastructure, which are also included in the capital budget. More than not, the strategic goals in the capital budget are net-new, or are a complete rebuild or overhaul. They are also required. As the population of Halifax grows, we need critical infrastructure to support that growth. This is what our strategic initiatives do.
Before I explain further, I feel it’s important to talk about municipal taxes. I’m asked all the time, “With all this new growth, how come the municipality isn’t rich already?" It’s a fair question. The answer will explain that, along with our strategic goals, and the budget it represents.
When populations increase, the pool of taxpayers also increases. In the case of income tax or sales tax, an increase of people directly and proportionally increases the pool of tax dollars to deliver services to those people. Municipal taxes do not follow the same trajectory, as municipalities deliver infrastructure, too. Municipal growth requires new infrastructure, and the costs of that infrastructure are meant to be gathered and paid for over time.
A study from FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) determined that a new housing unit requires an average investment of around $107,000 in municipally owned capital assets. Development fees, along with federal and provincial transfers help to offset those costs. But municipal taxes that cover infrastructure are not paid all at once, and infrastructure also requires maintenance. Growth does pay for growth, but it also requires investment. New capital is paid for over years, and with a bigger pool of taxpayers paying property and commercial tax (where property and commercial tax are the lion’s share of municipal revenue).
HRM is actively working to keep costs low for all taxpayers, by focusing growth where there is already infrastructure to support it, or where infrastructure can be added or delivered as cost-efficiently as possible. The regional plan intentionally directs growth to the regional center, as well as other growth nodes inside the service boundary for exactly this reason. Our strategic goals, like the Integrated Mobility Plan, focuses on transit and infrastructure in growth areas, for that same reason again.
What this means for District 13
Without getting into the efficacy of the federal, provincial, and municipal tax system, it is fair to say that fundamentally, the principles that inform the Strategic Goals and the budget it represents are incredibly sound. The strategic goals of HalifACT are necessary, responsible, and cannot be overstated. Densifying the regional center and delivering new infrastructure to growth areas is fiscally smart, and carries the added benefit of preserving precious green spaces for all to enjoy. However, if you are in a rural or suburban district like District 13, the 2025 Capital Budget reads like, with some major and important exceptions, we’re paying for the privilege of growth someplace else. As a new councillor inheriting a budget from a previous council’s strategy, I am obliged to hold both these truths at the same time, and take those truths into future planning and strategy.
As of the time of this writing, it is also not set in stone. Council just voted on the capital budget (not the entire budget) in principle, but we have further opportunities ahead to make modifications. I have received many emails regarding the proposed rate hike, and I absolutely agree that we need to do better to bring the rate increase down. Final ratification does not happen until April, and I look forward to finding ways to make smart financial decisions for all of HRM. Please email me if you'd like to discuss. I'd love to hear from you.