City vows to consult with angry suburbs — next time
Next time, the city of Montreal says it will consult with suburbs before calculating how much they owe for shared services such as policing and public transit.
But that won’t help suburban mayors who are furious after being told Wednesday that they’ll have to pay a lot more — in some cases hikes were of nine per cent or more — in 2018.
At a city of Montreal finance committee hearing on Friday morning, Montreal city manager Alain Marcoux admitted the city did not consult with suburbs in advance, nor did it advise them of the big hikes before they were made public. He said that would change next year.
Across town at Westmount city hall, the 15 mayors who make up the Association of Suburban Municipalities held a news conference to denounce the tax hikes and to ask Mayor Valérie Plante to sit down with them and make changes.
The mayors had expected a tax hike that aligned with the rate of inflation, which is expected to hover somewhere around two per cent for 2018. Instead, they were surprised with tax increases of up to 9.8 per cent.
“This increase is both unacceptable and unfair and must be rectified out of respect for taxpayers,” said Montreal West Mayor Beny Masella, president of the suburban association. “These people did not vote for such draconian tax hikes.”
Masella was joined by Westmount Mayor Christina Smith, Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle and Montreal East Mayor Robert Coutu.
COLLECTIVE SHOCK
Mayors said they were given no warning about the increases and heard the news at the same time as the media.
Masella said Plante is not only the mayor of Montreal, but the head of the Montreal Agglomeration Council, and she needs to consider the impact her decisions have on all taxpayers, including those living in the de-merged suburbs.
De-merged suburbs pay up to 50 per cent of their budget to the agglomeration, which is controlled by the city of Montreal and manages shared services on the island.
Only Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue saw a reduction in payments to the Montreal agglomeration. The other municipalities listed the potential impact on homeowners’ taxes as ranging between $30 and $440.
The mayors are hopeful Plante will agree to a revision. Masella said a precedent was set in 2006 when Montreal Island mayors voiced their disapproval of a tax hike much higher than promised. That budget was revised.
“We are acting as true partners,” Masella said of the suburban mayors. “It is our hope that Ms. Plante will fulfil her promise to treat us as partners in turn, in a spirit of respect for all taxpayers.”
NO SIGNS OF BACKING DOWN
Alan DeSousa, finance critic with the opposition Ensemble Montréal party, said it was unfair to saddle suburbs with huge hikes without warning.
“It’s very surprising to hear there were absolutely no discussions,” he said, noting previous administrations kept suburbs in the loop during the budget process.
Now, some municipalities will have to figure out how to make up millions of dollars before the end of the month, when tax bills are due to be mailed out, he said.
The Plante administration showed no signs of backing down.
In a statement Friday afternoon, Benoit Dorais, executive committee member responsible for finance, cited several reasons for the increase in suburban bills.
Dorais said the increase is due in part to extra payments the city must make to its pension plan to make up for losses after the 2008 financial crisis.
He said the city is also spending more on public security due to a new contract for police officers, and increasing funding for transit and water infrastructure upgrades.
“These are services that benefit all the cities of the agglomeration of Montreal,” Dorais said.
He said the city of Montreal’s share of agglomeration-wide services increased by 6.8 per cent, while that of suburbs increased by 5.2 per cent.
“We understand that there are significant variations from one municipality to another and that these variations have consequences for taxpayers” of de-merged cities, he said.