City councillors will vote on the “tax reform” proposal as soon as this coming Tuesday. The proposal will profoundly affect tens of thousands of property tax bills in HRM, so it’s entirely appropriate to ask: How will councillors’ votes affect their own property bills? The list below shows what “tax reform” does to the city portion of councillor’s tax bills. Provincial and supplemental education charges are not included, as they will remain the same. “N-A” reflects that some councillors don’t have a residence in their name. I haven’t yet figured out the change for Steve Streatch’s Middle Musquodoboit house, because the calculations are complicated by his farming operation. Probably, his city tax would rise $100-$200. ‑TB

Councillor District Neighbourhood Market Assessment Current City taxes Taxes under reform proposal Change  
Peter Kelly Mayor Bedford $213,600 $1,813 $1,383 -$430  
Steve Streatch District 1 Middle Musquodoboit Not available at this time n/a n/a n/a  
Barry Dalrymple District 2 Wellington $173,800 $1,267 $1,100 -$167  
David Hendsbee District 3 Westphal $222,800 $1,728 $1,383 -$345  
Lorelei Nicoll District 4 Cole Harbour $293,800 $2,102 $1,383 -$719  
Gloria McCluskey District 5 North Dartmouth $153,900 $1,217 $1,316 +$99  
Darren Fisher District 6 Dartmouth $165,300 $1,323 $1,383 +$60  
Bill Karsten District 7 Forest Hills $233,500 $1,863 $1,383 -$480  
Jackie Barkhouse District 8 Eastern Passage $164,000 $1,182 $1,383 +$201
GREATEST TAX INCREASE
Jim Smith District 9 No property in his name n/a n/a n/a n/a  
Mary Wile District 10 No property in his name n/a n/a n/a n/a  
Jerry Blumenthal District 11 No property in his name n/a n/a n/a n/a  
Dawn Sloane District 12 Central Halifax $239,400 $1,594 $1,316 -$278  
Sue Uteck District 13 South end Halifax $464,300 $3,753 $1,316 -$2,437
GREATEST TAX DECREASE
Jennifer Watts District 14 Connaught $322,700 $2,550 $1,316 -$1,234  
Russell Walker District 15 Fairview $169,400 $1,363 $1,335 -$28
Debbie Hum District 16 Wentworth $414,900 $3,132 $1,383 -$1,749
Linda Mosher District 17 Cowie Hill? $250,000 $2,084 $1,383 -$701
Stephen Adams District 18 No property in his name n/a n/a n/a n/a
Brad Johns District 19 No property in his name n/a n/a n/a n/a
Bob Harvey District 20 Sackville $239,400 $1,824 $1,383 -$441
Tim Outhit District 21 Bedford $357,500 $2,743 $1,383 -$1,360
Reg Rankin District 22 Timberlea $236,300 $1,892 $1,383 -$509
Peter Lund District 23 Tantallon $507,200 $2,482 $880 -$1,602

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7 Comments

  1. I guess we know how council will vote on this one! The chart says it all. Nearly every councillor listed will see a substantial reduction in their property tax. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Council is out to shaft the majority of the people again. Big surprise!

  2. I think somebody needs to teach the powers that be, how to manage money (tax-payers money).
    They get a raise in pay and then lower taxes, this, right after they complain about an unbalanced budget..(well many millions in debt)…….can’t have your cake and eat it to.

    It’s time somebody in City Hall started thinking about who’s money thier playing with.

  3. Is it a coincidence, that the councsiller with the lowest property value is also the hardest working?You can’t beat good old fashion ethics!!! Congratulations Gloria..Sue Uteck is worth 3 times as much??????I don’t think so….

  4. Hoboken, it’s not that council wants to shaft the majority (some sarcasm in there!), it’s more the fact that every politician gets in office for themselves, they get fairly “easy money”, benefits, allowances, etc. And this is no different as they will only see “my taxes go down, so I favor it”. You really should read the tax reform article to get an appreciation of how fucked things will be with tax reform.

  5. How does Dawn Sloane deserve a subsidized property when it has an assessed value that is higher than many of her peers? She should be forced to repay the contribution that taxpayers made to the purchase price of her house. Shame on her.

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