Home | Contacts | Classifieds | Archives | Media Kit | Email Us |
Like all the boroughs in the City of Montreal, the Borough of Villeray/St-Michel/Park Extension will be expected this year to forsake 40 per cent of its leftover capital works funding to help compensate for a large hole in the City of Montreal’s overall budget. That’s the word from Park Extension city councillor Mary Deros, who sits on Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s executive committee.
$4.3 billion city budget
“It’s been a very difficult year,” Deros said in an interview this week with NPEN, as city council was poised on Monday to pass the nearly $4.3 billion 2010 budget at Montreal city hall. “If you look at all the budgets that have been put through across Canada and North America, all the cities have increased user fees, they’ve increased taxation and so on to be able to come through with a balanced budget,” said Deros.
The budgets for the 19 boroughs in the city were raised 2.4 per cent this year to reach a total of more than $926 million. Villeray/St-Michel/Park Extension’s 2010 operating budget is 0.7 per cent greater than last year. The borough (population 145,485) will be spending nearly $63.5 million, compared to just over $63 million last year. This compares with the almost $69 million operating budget allotted the Borough of Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce (population 163,110), which is 1.1 per cent more than last year.
A balancing act
According to Deros, the centre city is asking each of the boroughs to give up 40 per cent of any money left over from 2009 capital works budgets if the amount is not spent. “Rather than tax people, rather than borrow or take measures to make ends meet, we’re asking the boroughs to pitch in and give up 40 per cent of that unused portion to help the city come through with a balanced budget,” she said.
“A lot of people, a lot of councillors were not happy about it, but they understand that we have a serious issue here. If we haven’t managed to spend it, then rather than have that money sit in the coffers of the city or in the boroughs, we will help the city centre to come out with a balanced budget. Otherwise we’re going to end up being taxed.”
The centre city budget contained an overall property tax increase of 5.3 per cent. Tremblay was apologetic about the hike, but said global economic conditions had a lot to do with it.
New property roll due
Next year, a new property valuation roll will be issued by the City of Montreal — an event that is likely to send tax bills spiralling up once again if history can be trusted. However, Deros notes that the city is likely to adjust the tax rate to compensate for any overall rise in property values, so that an upward tax surge is less likely. “We reduce the tax rate when the evaluations go up,” she said. “But because the valuation roll across the city is uneven, that’s where you get some people being hit with a higher tax bill than others.”
Borough Mayor Anie Samson, who is with the opposition Vision Montreal party, was unavailable to comment on the budget by the time NPEN had reached its deadline. However, in a statement, Vision Montreal leader Louise Harel has noted that the 5.3 per cent tax hike is roughly nine times the 0.6 per cent rate of inflation. She said the budget “imposes tax hikes, a significant reduction in investments and a drastic cut in the capital works budgets of the boroughs.”