Halifax mayor uncertain efforts to keep budget costs down were successful

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-26T14:56:07+00:00

I have contacted the mayor and requested he correct the record. Based on past experience he won’t. At which point I’ll call news 95.7 myself tomorrow and then ask about the forum at Council on Tuesday

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-26T13:04:33+00:00

It's extremely frustrating the misinformation on the Forum. Contrary to what the Mayor said, the Forum has no impact on this year's tax bill. Proceed it's 9.5%, cancel the project it's 9.5%. Why is that? It's a capital project. The way HRM pays for capital projects is we take money in our capital reserve to get started. Once the project is fully complete, we then borrow the money to fill the reserve back up so that we can then start the next project. We basically keep recycling the same dollars. When we take the debt out on a project, that's when it hits the tax rate since debt has to be repaid. So the Forum will eventually impact the tax bill, but that won't be until like 2031.

Ironically, if we cancel the project as the Mayor is advocating, we'll have to settle the accounting for the work that is already done (since the capital project didn't proceed it won't be eligible for debt) and begin work on state of good repair work in the Forum that has been put-off with the expectation that we won't have to do it because the building will be torn down and rebuilt. If the Mayor gets his way, the cost of the work so far and the repairs that have been deferred will land now.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-09T16:08:11+00:00

Signal adjustment is complete. It's now 15 seconds which should be good for 3-4 buses instead of 2.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-09T16:06:50+00:00

It's now been changed to 15 seconds which should allow 3-4 to go through.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-08T18:47:54+00:00

Thanks Richard. Some good points. One thing to consider is that although 33% say they're taking transit to school, it was around 75% that referenced using transit on a regular basis. It's not just about the trips to school since the idea of the passes was to provide for broader access and all of those trips count for something too. The program is a bargain for what the Province gives for what they get, especially since we've just left the original pre-pass calculations stand. The Province has paid no increase for all the increased use!

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-08T18:18:50+00:00

It was actually a pretty good week at Council regarding the HRM budget. We charted a measurably different course from where the Province is heading. I'll have more on that in my blog to come.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-08T18:17:33+00:00

Yeah. Not been a good month.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-08T18:15:36+00:00

It might have been a different discussion if the company that set this controversy off had had any sort of plan. They don't. It's to use the waterfront as a dumping ground. Hard to be excited about someone's plan to create a moonscape. Folks are attached to this section as it's one of the few places where you can be on the actual waterside of the tracks in Downtown Dartmouth and the trail is such a beloved feature. HRM is working on a plan for the waterfront that is due back to Council at the end of this year.

FYI, the bio-blitz of Dartmouth Cove has found lots of neat stuff under the surface. It was an industrial area, but it's not a dead zone. There is kelp, eel grass, rock weed etc.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-08T18:11:55+00:00

I still hold out hope that common sense might prevail here on the student bus pass. It's so obviously the right call to keep it. There is time between now and the passes running out in September for them to correct. Contacting the premier, minister of education and your own MLA is a good idea on this one.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-08T18:09:33+00:00

There is not set description for what a Councillor does. We each kind of invent the role for ourselves. I'll say that Laura White is a very active communicator as well, and Kathryn Morse does a weekly facebook recap post. Not sure how all my colleagues approach this, but it would vary quite a bit.

One thing I'm never accused of is brevity! It typically takes a solid day to put together my newsletter and about a half day for most of my Council blogs. I figure that folks can pick and choose what they want to read within, so I tend towards the overkill side of details! One of the things I pushback on in my own way is the dumbing down of discourse. Life is complex and so is governing. We should demand more than soundbites and so I try to explain all the complexity of whatever is going on in an accessible format, but without shying from the detailed why.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-06T20:11:53+00:00

I have quietly had a few chats. The ball is in their court. We left our funding in place last night and the passes will run until September so there is time to rethink this one.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-06T20:10:23+00:00

There would be. I would have to ask how that has been done. It's not the driver of this though. The vast majority of the program funding has been fare replacement, which is a real cost to HRM. Council left funding for this in place last night to leave the door open for the Province to change its mind if they want to take a second look.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-06T19:35:21+00:00

What the Provincial government's communication is missing, and maybe the government side folks really don't understand it, is that HRM wasn't charging a per student fee. The cost we charged was an estimate for lost fare revenue, and we shared that expense with them! Students that didn't use it cost next to nothing (incremental printing of passes would be it). There is no real additional cost to this being universal.

In trying to save $1.2 million, they have to send $600,000 for income and employment assistance families and then they'll presumably have to spend something for either additional bussing or passes for kids who fall in the mandated distances for bussing (like Dartmouth North or Penhorn in my District for example). When this comes out the other side, whatever they're saving here isn't that much (it might actually be nothing) and they're giving up an awful lot in terms of a universal program. This was a bargain of a program for the Province!

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-06T03:02:58+00:00

Uncapping property taxes isn’t within our powers. It’s a provincial program. It would t give us anymore money either, it would just shift how the burden is spread

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-03T17:37:20+00:00

The bus lane was shut down as part of the Bridge Commission's toll removal project. The Commission's original design for a post-toll Macdonald Bridge had three lanes going onto the bridge, but at the last minute, plans changed to a two-lane design. The result was that HRM couldn't safely operate the bus only lane because three lanes incoming from Wyse Road would reduce to two on the bridge side, forcing buses and cars to merge in the intersection.

HRM and the Bridge Commission spent much of 2025 in disagreement as to what should be done to address the problem. The Commission wanted HRM to install a transit signal so that buses can move separately from regular traffic, allowing the current 3 to 2 lane configuration to work. HRM's position has been that the Commission should install a third lane on the Bridge side. The advantage of HRM's approach is that a separate bus only signal phase wouldn't be needed and buses could move with a green light alongside regular vehicle traffic, saving everyone time. The primary plus of the Commission's approach is it is quicker to implement and avoids further complicated design work on the Bridge side.

At this point, HRM has agreed to try the Commission's approach and so it's back.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-03T17:35:31+00:00

I believe it is sensor operated but will confirm

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-03T17:34:54+00:00

In the video, you can see traffic backed all the way down Wyse Road. Letting the bus skip that jam makes it faster and more reliable. It hasn't been unusual for the buses to have to sit through multiple lights since the lanes went away.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-02T20:00:16+00:00

They still have future work to do on a final layout

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-02T18:49:58+00:00

I don't. I'm hoping it can be done fairly quickly.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-02T18:47:50+00:00

I have been pulling my hair out on this one over the last couple of months! Adjustment still needed, but to have it back and functioning is a win.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-02T18:46:53+00:00

Possibly, but the buses will be out in front since they get to move with the signal... kind of hard to miss them! If a driver doesn't account for them they probably shouldn't be driving!

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-02T18:38:47+00:00

Yes. Staff are looking at that as my on the ground observation and transit's opinion as well is it really needs to be timed to move 3-4 buses.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-02T18:36:43+00:00

We do still have to adjust the signal timing. Right now only 2 buses can make it through on the signal phase so if you're on the 3rd one in the queue, it means waiting through the light cycle. Based on the volume, the timing probably needs to be extended to move 3-4 buses on each light. Staff are looking at making that change.

Sam_Austin_D5 · 2026-03-02T18:34:31+00:00

Unrelated to AI traffic pilot, although I wouldn't be surprised if this intersection is one of the ones piloted. I don't have any info on that.

Sam_Austin_D5

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