Wednesday, HRM’s budget committee finalized the transit budget, and will consider hiring four new security guards at a cost of $379,000. Otherwise, the $38 million budget sailed through the debate largely untouched. This transit budget is 12% more than last year, due largely to an increased cost of fuel, and an increase in the cost […]
Matt Stickland
Matt spent 10 years in the Navy where he deployed to Libya with HMCS Charlottetown and then became a submariner until ‘retiring’ in 2018. In 2019 he completed his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College. Matt is an almost award winning opinion writer.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax council is clearing the (very low) bar of being a competent government
Our city councillors are doing better than their provincial and federal peers these days, although that can sometimes be hard to appreciate. Over the last week, HRM council debated how the public’s money should be used and, mostly, made good decisions for the future of the city. Council didn’t cut arts funding. Instead, councillor Waye […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Can you help us find Halifax’s independent grocers?
We here at The Coast are hard at work on a series of stories about Nova Scotia’s food insecurity. Journalism that only highlights problems without offering solutions is not very helpful. So, as a part of this food series we will also be creating a guide to help you defeat two of the final bosses […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How cutting Halifax’s police budget could save the arts
Building permit fees will be going up 25% on April 1, a move that will net the HRM an additional $1.45 million in revenue. These fees are governed by the Fees By-Law F-200. This fee hasn’t been adjusted since 1997, and currently sits at $5.50 per $1,000 of the estimated value. It will go up […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Status quo means budget woe for Halifax
The $104.6 million department of public works budget passed after a two-day budget meeting this week. The public works budget will get a bit of a shock in future years as the province gave the city approximately $14 million in asphalt liabilities. In this year’s budget, the city allocated $6 million to deal with the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The 2023 budget could make Halifax better forever
HRM’s budget debates rolled on this week. At Wednesday’s meeting, after some mild scrutiny, the budget committee passed the city IT department’s $32-million budget. It also passed the Property, Fleet & Environment budget valued at $48 million. Friday morning, the committee also passed the$12.9 million human resources and corporate communications budget. For this budget, council […]
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Everything you need to know about HRM council’s Feb. 7 meeting
The HRM is updating its garbage plan. The Solid Waste Strategy is getting underway, with the first step being public consultation. This is a wide-ranging strategy to reduce the amount of garbage the city produces. But in spite of all of the work that will go on behind the scenes, should this plan be successful, […]
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How ending the price freeze helps Loblaw get more of a monopoly
The Real Atlantic Superstore and its parent company, Loblaw, ended a price freeze on its No Name products this week. This price freeze, if you listen to Superstore, was a way to benevolently do some good. When the price freeze started in October of 2022 people were upset. In October people believed that Loblaws was […]
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The Halifax Board of Police Commissioners broke the law
The city’s Board of Police Commissioners voted to break the law Monday by passing the Halifax Regional Police budget. This is not just the opinion of your outside observer. The two lawyers on the board, Harry Critchley and Gavin Giles, both pointed out that the board, in passing this budget to council, would be breaking […]
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On budgets, public safety and using hearses as ambulances
In a meeting dominated by a discussion of what public safety is and what it will mean in the future, HRM’s budget committee discussed the first three business unit budgets up for consideration. Two of them—city finance department’s $15.4 million budget and the city legal department’s $8.8 million budget—both passed through the committee with minimal […]
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The long-term problems of short-term thinking
Halifax council’s Wednesday budget meeting was a briefing from the city’s accountants explaining the financial difficulties in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. The main tension in the 2023 budget, as it has been for many years, is that the city is not currently sustainable. It’s important to make a few distinctions here, because […]
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Power to the tenants! Rental regulation coming to Halifax
The start of the HRM council meeting was delayed Tuesday morning because of the city’s reliance on car infrastructure (a driver hit another driver on one of the bridges). Since we all need cars due to lack of transit, and a lot of us need to go across one of three choke points in the […]