It’s almost Halifax budget playoff time, baby!

HRM has one more budget meeting in its regular season, and then we’re into the budget playoffs! The budget playoffs are the meetings at the end of the budget process where council debates and decides what items get taken off the budget adjustment list and funded in the budget. Or, councillors will decide to take stuff from the budget adjustment list out back behind the barn—then come back in, alone.

The last regular season meeting will be about the fire department’s budget. Fire services have been discussed before in these budget debates—the new fire station planned for Bedford was debated during the capital budget talks. Essentially, the people who live near Larry Uteck are in danger of dying in a fire, but building a fire station will cost more than the city has.

Councillors will debate the fire budget on Wednesday.

At the end of last week, the budget committee got an update from the accountants. The tax rate is set to change. Right now, if everything on the BAL survives, the city’s tax rate will be 6.2%, which is lower than last year. However, due to property assessments going up, that 6.2% be a larger amount of money than last year, because the value of people’s homes has skyrocketed.

Hidden in the city’s property tax bill is the province’s cut. Roughly 25% of what is deducted by the city goes straight to the province. That money is not included in the city’s tax rate and is likely why your property tax bill seems higher than it should be.

In other news, councillor Kathryn Morse asked her colleagues to stop subsidizing the planet-killing air travel industry. She argued that climate change is an emergency, and air travel is killing the planet. The city currently collects $1.6 million in taxes from the airport, but if the airport paid in full the city would get $6.5 million. Council voted with Morse to renew the terms of the airport’s tax agreement, and council may end this $4.8 million fossil fuel subsidy in 2024.