Notification of area property tax rate

Halifax Regional Municipality invites you to an information session on Thursday, January 27, regarding a potential new community recreation facility to serve the residents of Bedford and Hammonds Plains.

This new facility and a full-size artificial-turf field would be built as an addition/enhancement to the replacement high school of Charles P Allen.

The new high school, to which the community centre would be connected, is scheduled to open in September 2013 on Innovation Drive in West Bedford.

The cost of the new recreation facility is estimated at $6.4 million. The project is being proposed at this time because of the unique opportunity to combine it with a new high school, saving about $2 million over the cost of constructing a stand-alone facility.

In rural parts of HRM there is often an area rate to support new rec facilities. In urban and suburban HRM, recreation area rates are generally not used. The construction funding formula that will be proposed to HRM Regional Council consists of 50% from HRM funds and 50% from a new area property tax.

To raise the estimated $3.2 million from the Bedford-Hammonds Plains area, a proposed annual rate of about $16 per $100,000 of taxable assessment would be required for a period not to exceed 10 years.

This compares favorably to other area rates currently in place in other areas of HRM for the construction of new recreation facilities.

Alternately, the area rate could be applied as a flat dollar amount of about $45 per property.

There will be an opportunity at the meeting to answer questions from the public regarding the area rate or any other aspect of the proposal.

Meeting Date & Time: Thursday, January 27, 7 p.m.
Meeting Location: LeBrun Centre – Lions Den, 36 Holland Drive, Bedford

If you are unable to attend, you can still provide feedback by contacting Councillor Tim Outhit (490-5679, 229-6385 or at outthit@halifax.ca) or Councillor Peter Lund (497-7508 or at peter.lund@halifax.ca).

For more information, please visit the website at: www.halifax.ca/facilities.

Please note: The mailout regarding the possible area rate for the proposed community is beginning to arrive in Bedford and Hammonds Plains. The map on the postcard is incorrect. It should show that the area rate would apply to all areas of Bedford. The map excludes Eaglewood, Ridgevale, and Oakmount. This is being corrected and mailed to those areas of our community!