‘WE’RE LEARNING,’ PLANTE SAYS
Not backing down on 3.3-per-cent hike
Mayor Valérie Plante says her administration could have done a better job preparing Montrealers for her first budget, which critics say is a betrayal of a key election promise.
But she sees no reason to apologize — and she won’t back down from the planned 3.3-per-cent increase in municipal taxes.
“I do understand that people are surprised and that some of them are upset,” Plante told the Montreal Gazette on Thursday.
“What I’m really hoping is that Montrealers will understand why we took that difficult decision.”
Plante and her Projet Montréal party promised not to hike taxes by more than the inflation rate.
During the campaign, the Conference Board of Canada expected Montreal inflation to hit 2.1 per cent in 2018; it recently dropped the forecast to 1.7 per cent.
Though most observers suggest the tax hike broke a promise, Plante insisted that it did not.
“From our perspective, we respected the promise,” she said, because the main part of the municipal tax bill — the general tax — will increase by 1.9 per cent, which is roughly the expected inflation rate.
It’s due to an increase on another line of tax bills — the water tax — that the overall bill is going up by 3.3 per cent, Plante noted.
However, Plante and Projet Montréal never mentioned a water tax hike during or after the election campaign.
The water tax has been frozen since 2013.
The budget has been widely panned, largely because of the tax surprise.
On Thursday, Benoit Dorais, the executive committee member responsible for finance, admitted the budget release was a “failed launch.”
Plante wouldn’t go that far. “We’re learning, that’s for sure,” Plante answered when asked if she considered the budget announcement a flop.
“In terms of communication, we could have shared more information on why we decided to put an emphasis on the water infrastructure. We could have been more clear, we could have shared information beforehand so Montrealers would have understood why suddenly there’s a tax rise.”
Plante said she and Dorais had to make difficult decisions in part because the previous administration left a $358-million shortfall that had to be dealt with in the 2018 budget.
“I had no flexibility in this budget,” she said.
She said raising the water tax was “the responsible thing to do” because under former mayor Denis Coderre the city did not spend enough on fixing Montreal’s notoriously dilapidated sewer and water main network.
“If they had spent enough, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now,” Plante said.
City hall opposition leader Lionel Perez, responsible for infrastructure on Coderre’s executive committee, has taken exception to Plante’s characterization, suggesting the previous administration spent historic amounts upgrading water infrastructure.
In 2013, when Coderre was elected, only about $100 million was spent on water infrastructure, a document provided by the official opposition Thursday shows.
By 2016, spending had grown to $261 million, with plans to spend $304 million in 2017. The Plante administration has said up to $500 million will be spent on water infrastructure in 2018.
During a city council debate on Wednesday, Dorais seemed to minimize the effect of the tax hike. In an exchange with Perez, he noted the average tax bill will go up by $118.
“It’s $10 more (per month) that we have to take out of our pockets, but will it hurt (Montrealers)? Certainly not,” Dorais said.
When asked about Dorais’ comment, Plante said $118 “is a lot of money for a lot of people, we’re not minimizing this. I can assure you that this is not something we’re taking lightly. We know that it is not easy for many families in Montreal.”