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At the May 5th borough
council meeting, Villeray—Saint-
Michel—Parc-Extension mayor Anie
Samson and St-Michel councillor Soraya
Martinez voted against a proposition to
increase the average amount of parking
fines in the borough.
In the arterial road system, the power
to set fines for parking offences belongs
to the city council. However, at the
local level, this power is vested to the
boroughs, according to the Charte de la
ville de Montréal.
“Neither I nor my colleague Soraya
Martinez are opposed to harmonizing
the fines across the City; what we deplore
is that fact that the city centre wants to
increase parking-offence fees to fill up
its coffers and balance its budget,” said
borough mayor Anie Samson.
“Despite the budget cuts we had to
go through, the administration has no
intention to invest that saved money
into surpluses for the boroughs. Instead,
that money will go into a consolidated
fund set up by city centre. Before
harmonizing the increase for parking
fees, the administration should rather
harmonize its boroughs’ budgets,” said
St-Michel councillor Soraya Martinez.
The current economic crisis has
forced the City of Montreal to reduce
its expenses by $155 million. Of that
amount, $20 million was from the borough’s
budgets. For Villeray—Saint-
Michel—Parc-Extension, that translated
into a cut of nearly $1.2 million.
“Our position on this matter is the
same my administration had when we
refused to increase the local parking
metre fees and to not have them in
function on Sundays. Our citizens are
already taxed enough as it is and do
not need to pay extra fees simply to fill
up the City’s coffers,” concluded Mayor
Samson.