Halifax Water should focus on service delivery, not new HQ: mayor

Halifax Water’s $34 million deficit could mean rate hikes for customers.

Halifax Water’s projected $34-million deficit – which is nearly double the 2024-2025 deficit of $18.7 million – could lead to rate hikes for customers.

Details were shared to Halifax councillors on Tuesday. That presentation came as the utility is also pushing ahead with a previously approved new operations centre, with a price tag of $70 million.

Mayor Andy Fillmore says the utility should be focused on delivering services, rather than a new headquarters.

“While the rest of us are tightening up elsewhere – households are tightening our belts – it doesn’t seem immediately clear to me – and I stand to learn more about the need for a new headquarters – but it doesn’t seem to me like the right time to be worried about a headquarters,” Fillmore told CTV News Tuesday.

A new operations centre was approved by the previous council, and the province’s utility and review board.

That process started in 2022 and was ultimately given the greenlight by the UARB last July. It does not impact this year’s budget.

But Fillmore says it was a different economic time.

“I’m concerned today about the expense that it involves,” he said. “Halifax Water needs to be focused on service delivery.”

“These are tough (conversations),” Deputy Mayor Tony Mancini told reporters. “We have our own infrastructure costs going up on some facilities. A good example will be a new police headquarters. Everything costs a lot of money now.”

Halifax Water points to a decreased total cost as it initially looked for $89 million for the facility.

“We are mindful of the costs and the impacts,” Kenda MacKenzie, the utility’s general manager and CEO told CTV News. “But we are hopeful that the integration of the four depots that exist today will provide greater cost savings and efficiencies in the future.”

Three-of-four depots, she said, are “nearing end of life” and would require further operational and capital costs for upgrades. The fourth needs to be vacated given its proximity to the Burnside connector.

Mancini told Halifax Water staff a rate hike application to help cover a $34-million deficit would be difficult on Haligonians, especially as council debates – and attempts to lower – a proposed tax increase of 7.6 per cent.

Halifax Water is also looking at a new reservoir to store chlorinated water at the Pockwock (JD Kline) treatment plant. That’s projected to cost about $65 million, MacKenzie said.

That follows two disruptive boil water orders in the last eight months.

The utility’s final report on the recent boil order – and so-called corrective actions – is due this Friday.

In an interview with CTV News after Wednesday’s budget meeting, Fillmore said his “vision for Halifax Water is a service that is safe, that’s reliable, that people can afford.”

“We’ve had two boil water advisories in the span of a year. And for a city of our size, that is very unusual and I would say it’s unacceptable,” he said.

Once budget deliberations wrap up, he said he’ll look to see what can be done to “make sure that the fiscal house is in order at Halifax Water.”

Fillmore said he’s hopeful to learn more about plans for testing of systems and backups at Halifax Water in case of an emergency. He also wants to ensure an emergency notification system is properly utilized should the need arise in the future.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page