Response from Andy Fillmore

In The Coast’s mayor voting guide, published on Oct. 13, city hall reporter Matt Stickland wrote that Andy Fillmore’s flagship promise in the affordable section of his platform to freeze the municipal tax rate for two years will likely struggle to pass at council.

Fillmore provided a response to this, we have published it in full below.

“I have been clear since the launch of my campaign, I will fight to freeze the municipal tax rate for a minimum of two years while we conduct a value for money audit on municipal services and revenues. As you know, property assessments are administered under provincial control, and it is very likely that they will continue to rise. But the tax rate is in Council’s control, and last year the current council raised the tax rate during an affordability crisis – on top of the added costs from rising assessment values. My approach as Mayor will be to put affordability first by ensuring we respect every single tax dollar that you send to the city. If we can go further and cut the tax rate, we will, and that’s the goal of conducting a comprehensive value for money audit which will be shared publicly. But I wouldn’t be so brazen to raise the tax rate while inefficiencies exist and need to be addressed. I believe that we can find efficiencies, put data and technology to work for us, and build stronger cost-sharing partnerships with other levels of government, and the private and non-profit sectors, to focus your dollars on what matters, which is the front-line services that HRM residents rely on.”