Halifax's contentious stormwater tax may move from property tax bill
Some condo owners charged $42 fee thrice: once for condo, once for parking space and again for storage area
Halifax council says it made a mistake handling the $42 stormwater fee, and it hopes city staff can find a better way to deliver the charge.
"I opened a can of worms and I am wearing it today. It doesn't look good on me," said Russell Walker, councillor for Halifax-Bedford Basin West, at Tuesday's council meeting.
Mayor Mike Savage said council was trying to be clear in how it handled the tax, but "on reflection, we're seeing that there's a better way to do it." He said it was a "mistake" resulting from unintended consequences.
$4M to cover stormwater run-off
The problem started in 2014, when the city began paying Halifax Water $4 million a year to handle stormwater that runs off city roads and into the ditch. Halifax tried to recoup that money with a flat fee added to the water bill.
Halifax Water already had a stormwater fee on the bill, so many people thought they were being charged twice.
This year, the city moved the charge to the property tax bill. They intended to charge $42 per property. Before, a condo building would be charged once as a corporation, and trailer park owners would be charged once for the entire park.
But under the new way, each resident in a condo building pays — and if they had separate deeds for parking spaces and storage areas, they were charged three times.
Every owner in mobile-home parks paid the fee, whether they owned the land or just the home.
Halifax argues that everyone benefits from streets and roads, so they put a uniform charge on every taxable property.
The city says all of the money goes into maintaining the water system.
Staff seeking a fair solution
That's what Walker was talking about when he said he opened a can of worms. Halifax wants to find a way to repay people who got charged more than once.
Halifax finance officials offered council a few ideas for fixing the problem.
"We do not have a solution, we do not have a good solution; we're going to have another least bad solution," said Matt Whitman, councillor for Hammonds Plains-St. Margarets.
Councillors asked staff to seek a fair way to handle the fee with area rates.