In response to the COVID-19 crisis, HRM extended its deadline for property tax payments to June 1, 2020. Given this delay, expenditure and revenue figures were not yet finalized, and we can only report on planned spending for the fiscal year 2019-20.
Municipal revenues grew by 2.2% in fiscal 2018-19, reaching a total of $937.2 million. In its budget for 2019-20, HRM anticipated a typical 2.0% increase in revenues for 2019-20 and a slightly more modest 1.5% increase through fiscal 2020-21.
Property taxes brought in three-quarters of municipal revenue, growing by a typical 3.1% rate in 2018-19. Of all property taxes, 38% are generated from commercial property and 62% from residential property. A 19% reduction was budgeted for the deed transfer tax. Deed transfer tax revenues typically are much more volatile from year to year than property tax revenues.
HRM continued to pursue a disciplined debt-reduction strategy by budgeting to reduce tax-supported municipal debt by $4.5 million in the 2019-20 budget. This 1.9% reduction is on par with the 5-year average for annual reductions and brings total tax-funded municipal debt down to $235.7 million. Overall, HRM was in an advantageous fiscal position going into the COVID-19 crisis.
Municipal spending for the fiscal year is laid out in the 2019-20 budget. The largest share of the budget is devoted to fiscal corporate services (17.2%), mandatory provincial costs (17.0%), and policing (13.2%).