Library renovations and a new fire station are being pushed to the back burner as Halifax struggles to balance the books.
Halifax regional council’s budget committee met Wednesday to debate the 2023-2024 capital budget. Staff recommend funding $317.1 million worth of projects, vehicles, software, and more.
Last year, council planned for a higher number for 2023-2024, $344.3 million. But with rising inflation and a drop-off of property sales to pad the budget with deed transfer tax, finance staff cut or deferred $27.2 million in planned spending.
One project being pushed way out is a new fire station to serve West Bedford and Hammonds Plains.
The need for the station is well established, with a large population in the Larry Uteck Boulevard area and Hammonds Plains underserved by Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency. The municipality has already purchased land for the new station, the old Ben’s Bakery site off Hammonds Plains Road. And they’re planning to co-locate the new fire station with a new headquarters for HRFE.
Safety concern around fire station delay
John MacPherson, executive director of corporate and customer services, told councillors the project is basically ready to go to tender. But staff have recommended waiting until 2026-2027 to budget the $16 million needed to build. There’s just $190,000 in the draft capital plan budget leftover from previous years for ongoing planning work.
Coun. Pam Lovelace, representing District 13 — Hammonds Plains-St. Margarets, said it needs to get done sooner.
“We know that we have a significant public safety concern in Hammonds Plains-West Bedford,” Lovelace said.
Lovelace moved for a staff report on funding the fire station in 2023-2024.
Coun. Tim Outhit wanted more information, too. He moved before Lovelace for a briefing note on both that project and the inclusion of a new library for Bedford in the planned Mill Cove ferry terminal.
The same growth that has outpaced the fire department has overburdened the library in Bedford, with just a small leased space serving the community.
MacPherson said there’s space set aside in the planned Mill Cove terminal for the library, just no money. Staff told council as much in September, when they presented the plan for the new ferry.
“We don’t know for sure if the Mill Cove ferry project is going ahead,” Outhit said. “If it does, all I’m asking is that sometime in the next two or three years we find money to fill the shelf.”
Deep paper cuts
Åsa Kachan, Halifax Public Libraries CEO, told council there was money in the long-term plan as of last year. The documents show $500,000 each in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 and $2 million in 2025-2026.
“And this year in final budget deliberations that the library was not part of, that was moved out,” Kachan said.
“I think it is important that council remember, 12 months ago this was on the table.”
Now there’s just $500,000 in 2026-2027.
Outhit moved for a staff report on getting the library and the fire station back in the budget in the next two years.
That Bedford library was one of multiple Halifax Public Libraries projects put on hold, along with $1 million in continued renovations for the Alderney Gate Library and $3 million for the Halifax North Memorial Library.
Halifax North library at risk
Kachan told council the Halifax North project is “extraordinarily important.”
“It’s a 60-year-old building. All of its systems are failing. IT has a roof that is leaking. The core systems in that building are poor. The sight-lines are poor. It is in desperate need of repair.”
“This is an urgent, urgent need from a public safety perspective. Just to flag how important this library is to community, the Halifax North library is deeply important to the African Nova Scotian community. It was the home in the 1970s of the Black resistance movement as it developed in that neighbourhood.”
Kachan said the library is busier now that before the pandemic.
“It is of deep importance to community, and we’re at risk of it closing every day due to a whole variety of building issues which is too long to list today, but it is long and we are nervous,” Kachan said. “I think the gentrification in that neighbourhood means public spaces accessible to all is of paramount importance.”
There’s still $6.2 million for the project leftover from previous years, and MacPherson said that will cover the start of construction.
“But currently the remainder of the build is beyond the four-year plan,” MacPherson said.
Coun. Lindell Smith, who worked at that library before being elected, moved for a staff report on getting all the library projects at their previously-approved levels.
Libraries and public safety
Councillors Becky Kent and Trish Purdy voted against that motion. Purdy said she was conflicted about potentially adding to the budget.
“I also feel a little weird having fire and libraries at the same level of public safety. They’re not. Fire is much, much more important,” Purdy said.
“I don’t want to diss libraries and the importance of them in our community, but like for public safety.”
Deputy Mayor Sam Austin, who made peace with the cut to Alderney renovations in his area, defended the role of libraries.
“Probably the biggest contributor to public safety in my district right now is the library because it is the only place that anyone can go,” Austin said.
“Regardless of who you are, your background, whether you have money, whether you don’t have money, everyone is welcome there … It is the safe place in the community, and I think we undervalue that at our peril.”
Councillors also looked at a list of potential cuts to achieve their goal of reducing the increase to the average tax bill from the staff-recommended 8% to 4%. The cuts discussed above don’t do that.
Staff provided a list of cuts to councillors, including halving their district capital funds. They voted that down, but agreed to cut the urban forestry budget by $750,000, half the staff-recommended cut. That still leaves $2.5 million in that budget.
Councillors will resume the capital budget discussion on Friday.