The austerity hypocrisy of mayor Andy Fillmore
Everyone (not the mayor) must do more with less this year
by Matt Stickland
Cuts for thee, but not for me, argued Andy (hypocritically) during last week’s budget committee.
Halifax is debating severe cuts this budget season as mayor Andy Fillmore keeps pushing austerity to grapple with past city councils keeping taxes low.
For those just tuning into budget season, the city’s operational budget this year is $1.2 billion. Thanks to keeping taxes low by deferring maintenance and by deferring the construction of critical infrastructure, the city is now $3 billion behind in paying for the HRM’s infrastructure needs. Unfortunately, due to council’s heavy debt and reserve spending in past years to keep taxes low, the city no longer has strategic reserves or debt to pay for our much-needed infrastructure. And since council seems to want to continue keeping taxes low instead of raising fees to make the city sustainable, the city can only afford $1.8 billion of the $3bn needed for the city’s critical infrastructure. A desire to keep taxes low and not to invest in the needed infrastructure for the city seems to be what is driving mayor Andy Fillmore and why Fillmore has been leading the charge to find cuts, repeatedly saying that everybody needs to “do more with less.”
Everyone except him.
