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Despite early warnings that 2010 property taxes in the City of Montreal could be rising seriously, Park Extension city councillor Mary Deros doesn’t anticipate more than a cost of living increase, although she adds it will be a completely different story for property owners in the demerged suburbs.
Money scarce
The Tremblay administration is tabling the budget at Montreal city hall on Wednesday this week. Deros, who sits on the executive committee, confirmed that the city is facing a shortage of money. “If your personal funds do not permit you to purchase that extra dress or pair of shoes that you want because you don’t have enough money to pay your heating bills, you’re not going to go on a personal shopping spree,” she said in an interview.
“If we don’t have money to pay for essential services because the indexation of the salaries of our employees goes up and we don’t get additional revenue, at some point we’re going to have to cut somewhere.” While she did not play a major role in formulating the budget, an advance presentation she said she had seen revealed that “it’s going to be a difficult budget.”
‘No cuts’: Deros
That being said, Deros insisted that “locally nothing will be cut. No services will be cut.” Asked where the impact is more likely to be felt, she said, “in projects. Projects that have not been realized. Projects that may be on a waiting list for funding will probably just be put on the back burner for now.” She said no such projects currently are slated in Park Extension, but that a Maison de la Culture which had been tentatively scheduled in Villeray is now likely to be shelved.
Deros noted that Park Extension currently has a theatrical staging room at its disposal at the William Hingston Centre, and that the borough has a full-scale auditorium at the Complexe Patro-Le Prévost on Christophe Colomb Boulevard in Villeray. “So between these two places, we’re pretty well off if we need to do something.
Luxuries out
“But on the other hand, when you don’t have food to put on the table, you’re not going to go to a cultural show. So at times we have to decide what is necessary in essential services and what is a luxury item. And if we have to determine where to spend the money, I’d rather spend it on our streets, on our parks to render them secure for our citizens, rather than spending on luxury items when we don’t have the funds.”
Regarding a property tax increase, she said, “We said that we don’t want to increase taxes. If anything – and I haven’t seen the final figures – there may be a cost of living increase. But at this point that has not been an issue. We have not seen figures. It’s been global and if we’re able by cutting out or transferring the money that we’ve reserved for certain projects over to deficits, there may not be an increase in taxes.” However, while the budget, according to Deros, is not shaping up badly for City of Montrealers, the suburban members of the Agglomeration are likely to be taking a hit.
Suburbs take a hit
“They will receive some increases,” she said. “We’re able to manage by preparing a balanced budget so that any additional expenses that we don’t have funds for we work on with our available funds that were reserved for certain projects. Everybody else has to do their share, as well. It can’t be always Montreal paying and everybody else sitting back and enjoying the services. They have to share in the cost of the police, the fire department and public transportation.”