Halifax regional council approved $833 million in total municipal expenditures, provincial mandatory contributions of $173.8-million and a capital plan of $177.9 million as part of the 2021-22 municipal budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The budget will see a residential tax rate increase of 1.0 per cent. The average single-family home tax bill will increase by $21, while the overall average commercial tax bill will increase by 1.0 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it is the benefits inside the budget for those in Upper\/Middle Sackville-Lucasville-Beaver Bank that has Blackburn smiling the most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn District 14, this budget will mean a lot of road work in the community this year,\u201d she told The Laker News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Those with a need for speed may also want to take note of what the budget means for roads in her communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cSpeeding is the number one complaint I get every year and this budget provides an extra $1 million for traffic calming projects, several of them in the district,\u201d Blackburn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deagle Gammon spoke of the spinoffs for her riding of Waverley-Fall River-Musquodoboit Valley from the budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She found keeping the tax increase to just one per cent was a highlight for her first HRM budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know some people would like it to be a zero increase, but I think one per cent was the best compromise,\u201d said Deagle Gammon on May 5. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was rather exciting as my first budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe most interesting part I think is when you come in and there\u2019s three budgets in a year, you have less opportunity to be as proactive as you might want to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the next time we get to budget time, I will be more well-versed on what the district needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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She said increase in funding for traffic calming was next, as was increase for planning staff, which she said will assist commercial and residential growth. There are numerous streets on the list to have traffic calming tools installed in District 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHopefully, those will process faster as a result of more staff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deagle Gammon said having the green bins back weekly is also a plus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cResidents were really worried about what might happen with that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only downside she found was that she had hoped more money would have been in the budget for roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we need to do for our roads is a significant investment so we need to figure out what that plan will be over the next three years,\u201d said Deagle Gammon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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She also said six months was not enough time to get the bus route in for Fall River or the Turf Field project in for this year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s next year, and we\u2019re on our way to a better path with all of that even though we didn\u2019t get it in this time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deagle Gammon said the Enfield fire-Halifax Fire agreement is still in negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt would have been nice to have seen that finished before budget was, but the comments made during budget discussions assured me that the $40,000 wouldn\u2019t be an impediment to an agreement,\u201d she said, \u201cand if that money was needed to see an agreement come to fruition that it was there. Having that on the record is good and a helpful place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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She said there are more boots on the ground officers needed, especially in her community of Fall River\/Waverley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe decision around a staff report looking at if we have the right policing model. Is it working well? Where can it be improved?\u201d she said. \u201cI think that will be an interesting read when it comes out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m anxiously awaiting those recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deagle Gammon said balancing a $1 billion is not easy, with all the needs that are in HRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a delicate balance when you\u2019re looking at what is the best investment for HRM,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a big learning curve for anyone. This is not a small piece of work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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[adrotate banner=”127″] [adrotate banner=”95″] BEAVER BANK\/FALL RIVER: HRM Councillors Lisa Blackburn and Cathy Deagle Gammon are both pleased with aspects of the recently passed $833 million HRM Budget that will see each of their districts reap benefits as a result. Halifax regional council approved $833 million in total municipal expenditures, provincial mandatory contributions of $173.8-million and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,957],"tags":[10,1284,1610,2,121,1042,1043],"class_list":["post-21316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","tag-beaver-bank","tag-budget","tag-cathy-deagle-gammon-2","tag-fall-river","tag-hrm","tag-lisa-blackburn","tag-musquodoboit-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}