Article contentThe Eastern Passage request followed last year’s funding for similar offices in Fall River and Beechville-Lakeside-Timberlea.Article contentRCMP Supt. Don Moser told the budget committee that 12 of the 14 new positions for those community satellite offices have been filled.Article content“We’ll probably see boots on the ground by early 2026,” Moser said. “They’ll be repositioned into those community offices very shortly.”Article contentWith these new officers on board, Coun. Sam Austin (Dartmouth Centre) couldn’t support adding more while cuts in services and an increase in user fees are expected this budget season in an effort to mitigate a projected 10.5 per cent tax bill hike.Article content“We have to be cognizant of the cost of this,” Austin said. “($972,000) this year, $2 million next year. It’s not a small amount.Article content“Last year, we added 14 RCMP officers. Part of our pressure this year is $1.5-million of those positions now landing. So, this is not a small amount of money.Article contentArticle content“I think the community office could wait another year or two before we do it.”Article contentAdding new investigators for the IPV unit, though, couldn’t wait.Article contentThe province declared intimate partner violence an epidemic in 2024. The RCMP launched the IPV unit the same year and it will double in size with the addition of two new investigators.Article contentCrime statistics show that calls related to intimate partner violence continue to increase in HRM. The RCMP said the additional focus on IPV in 2025 has resulted in a 73 per cent increase in files being recorded and tracked as IPV.Article contentKent reminded the budget committee that November is Intimate Partner Violence Awareness Month in Canada.Article content“This would be a pretty rough time to not support positions like that,” Kent said.Article content“Catastrophically, those numbers are going up, so we need those positions.”Article contentCoun. Trish Purdy (Cole Harbour-Preston-Westphal-Cherry Brook) concurred.Article contentArticle content“The RCMP has really been focusing on domestic violence. Unfortunately, it’s a very big problem,” Purdy said. “This is not only helping Eastern Passage and surrounding communities, but it’s giving more officers the support their unit needs to focus on domestic violence cases.”Article contentThe municipality’s budget committee met Wednesday to kick off discussions for the 2026-27 budget. Financial staff told the committee that the average residential property tax bill would rise 10.5 per cent to cover an $88.9-million increase over last year’s budget. That would cost residents an extra $276 a year in property taxes, based on an average assessment value of about $353,000.Article contentThe budget will go to regional council for final approval in 2026.Article content
Halifax council approves intimate partner violence investigators, but votes against more Eastern Passage officers
