Halifax getting 10 new firefighters, considers new homeless supports during budget talks

Halifax councillors approved funding for 10 new firefighters Friday, and left open the possibility of doubling that number, during budget talks that also dealt with new programs to support homeless people.

The city's budget committee approved the $97.9-million Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency budget and the $15.8-million community safety budget after two days of discussion.

These departments will be now baked into the city's overall operating budget, which will be finalized in April.

The fire budget, up about 5.2 per cent ($4.8 million) from last year, includes 10 new firefighters who will start in February 2026, new logistics roles, and wildland fire training.

Fire Chief Ken Stuebing said the firefighters are needed to staff the new West Bedford fire station. Additional firefighters are also needed to keep up with population growth and traffic congestion, which is expected to further impact response times in emergencies in the coming years.

To that end, Stuebing asked for an additional 10 firefighters to join next year's class, which would bring the total to 20.

"We are digging out of a hole that we didn't realize how deep it was until we started really doing the analysis," Stuebing told the meeting.

Coun. Nancy Hartling of Prospect Road-St. Margarets said the extra firefighters are a worthwhile investment because the municipality knows all too well the outcomes of not being prepared for a major fire. She said the Upper Tantallon wildfire in 2023 cost about $165 million in insurable damage. 

"The cost of being behind the eight ball can never be overstated," said Hartling.

Councillors moved the extra 10 firefighters to the budget adjustment list — a running tally of extra items, or cuts, for the budget. That will be finalized in March. They also moved a request for funding to provide preventive cancer screenings for firefighters to that list.

Items from community safety were also moved to the list, including funds to finish matching $750,000 from the province for a planned drop-in centre for homeless people that would offer food, water, showers and housing information.

Staff said they have a location for the centre in mind in the urban core, and it could be started up within the next four months after a service provider is found.

Also added to the adjustment list was $1.5 million to continue the After Hours Individualized Mobile Engagement (AIM) team, which launched last month. In January, outreach workers with the team went to 240 calls, referred 30 people to housing options and did four suicide interventions.

Coun. Sam Austin spoke in favour of the team, saying had it existed in December, it may have helped prevent a tragedy like the death of a senior at a Dartmouth encampment.

"We lost a human life that did not need to be lost," said Austin.

The budget committee moved $463,800 to the adjustment list for a mobile crisis service of two civilian teams that could respond to mental health calls on a 24/7 basis, rather than police.

Coun. Becky Kent, who is also on the police board, said she has regularly heard from citizens who want to see police removed from mental health responses.

On Friday, Kent said during the meeting she was disappointed that new Mayor Andy Fillmore was not present for both days of budget debate because he was on vacation. Fillmore campaigned on not opening new homeless encampments and freezing the property tax rate.

Kent said the mayor's role is a busy one, but she had never seen former mayor Mike Savage miss a week of budget debate.

Fillmore also missed regional council on Tuesday.

"We heard clearly during his campaign and since then that the homelessness file matters, and to not have him in those discussions, I think is a loss to us. It's a loss to debate around the chamber," Kent said after the meeting.

"We're all democratically elected to be here, and he's not. So that's discouraging."

The mayor's office confirmed Fillmore will be back for meetings next week.