Some Councilors Disagree With Weeknight Parking Fees In Halifax
HALIFAX — Everyone seems to agree that this is going to be a tough budget year for the city of Halifax. The debate is over how to balance the budget. Unlike other levels of government, municipalities can not go into deficits. That often means having to raise taxes and fees or cut services.
One recent proposed fee increase has caught the ire of the business community. Halifax Regional Council is considering charging for parking on weeknights and Saturdays to increase revenue. Council has voted to add this idea to its budget, but it is far from being finalized — like all the other budget items being debated.
Nonetheless, several business commissions in Halifax penned an open letter to council, warning that the fees will discourage shoppers from venturing downtown.
“Implementing these changes, for the first time, may bring in a modest return for the municipality’s general revenues, but it would come at a real cost to our businesses and add to the customer perception that downtown is not convenient,” reads the letter, in part.
Many in the business community are still struggling to pay back their CEBA loans and other pandemic debts. On top of that, many small retail shops have not seen foot traffic return to their stores to 2019 levels.
Tim Rissesco of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission is one of the signees of the open letter. Sam Auston, the councilor for Dartmouth Centre, says he agrees with adding parking fees for Saturdays but not for weeknights.
“I can see the argument for Saturday. Winnipeg and Regina are the only other Canadian cities that do not charge for parking on Saturday across the country. If you want to go into downtown, you’re going to pay for parking on Saturday in most cities.”
“I did not support the evening parking inclusion. And I think this is where we’ve got a difference between downtown Halifax and downtown Dartmouth. We don’t have, in the evenings, a real shortage of parking in downtown Dartmouth like over in Halifax. I wasn’t in favor of adding evening parking in downtown Dartmouth, but I was in the minority on that one.”
Austin agrees that introducing new parking fees will have an impact on downtown shopping. But he argues that there is a misconception over how many shoppers actually drive to a downtown shop. Austin says studies in various cities have shown that transit users, biker riders, and pedestrians make up more of the customer base than businesses realize.
“It is a concern. It is a factor. [But] people’s perception of parking tends to outweigh its actual impact. If you actually do a survey of where people have come from, it tends to be much less than that. There’s way more people that have come by foot and by transit than people expect.”
“It’s not a zero [impac]). It’s a question of what’s reasonable.”
Auston also said he has heard from many homeowners about the tough budget process. Most, he said, would rather take on a slightly higher property tax bill than see cuts to services.
“The average homeowner, you’re talking about a difference between $87 and$164. The sentiment I’ve been very much getting is ‘please charge me $87 a year. I don’t want to see these cuts. The 87 bucks you need is a bargain for what we get.”
For businesses, however, an eight percent increase to their tax bill will be several thousand dollars in extra expenses.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].