The mayor of Halifax says the outlook for property taxes has gotten even worse, which were already facing a 10.5 per cent hike.

In an interview with Acadia News, Andy Fillmore says after a pre-budget debate last week where some spending was added, the possible increase had jumped even higher to 10.9 per cent and there is no easy way to fix it.

“There is no silver bullet,” says Fillmore. “First of all, it’s going to have to draw from a lot of pots across the board.”

What does that mean?

Fillmore says they need to be looking at a hiring freeze for staff, reductions in grant programs and taking better advantage of funding opportunities from the provincial and federal governments.

“Sometimes we leave those opportunities on the table, and we simply can’t afford to do that,” adds Fillmore.

He says there is a long list of things they will be “digging into” to try to save money.

“But my message is really clear… 10.5 is unacceptable,” says Fillmore.

“Residents are looking at 2.5 to 5 per cent increase on their power bill and to ask people to pay 10.5 or 10.9 per cent more on their property tax bill… it’s just a non-starter for me. So, we need to work hard to bring that down.”

Fillmore says his main goals are always to keep life affordable, building as many houses as they can at a cost that people can afford, and dealing with congestion and transit.

He adds, they are also having difficult conversations with Halifax Water as well when it comes to development.

“They have become eclipsed by our water and sewer infrastructure. Whether that’s because infrastructure needs to be replaced or whether that’s because the pace of rolling out new infrastructure to support all the new housing we have to build isn’t keeping up. It’s become the pinch point,” says Fillmore.

Council will take a deeper look into the budget in 2026.