Leak of tax report doesn’t serve public, Bergeron says
A leaked report that the city’s 2013 budget will include an overall property tax hike of 3.4 per cent has an opposition city councillor hopping mad, and not just because it is the fourth increase above the inflation rate in as many years.
“My first reaction is to be insulted as an elected official to read about the next budget in my morning newspaper,” said Richard Bergeron, leader of Projet Montréal.
Bergeron said he has no doubt that the anonymous source cited in the La Presse article is trustworthy. In fact, he said, he is convinced the leak was sanctioned by the administration of Mayor Gérald Tremblay. He says it follows a clear pattern by which the administration “pre-chews important information and spoon-feeds it to journalists” to disarm the opposition and manipulate the message.
He notes that the annual auditor-general’s report was routinely distributed to journalists before being tabled in council until two years ago, when his party fought for and won a bylaw requiring the auditor-general to reveal the report to council first.
Leaks of such documents do not serve the public, he said, because duly elected councillors do not get a chance to study the documents and point out problems while the story is still hot.
As for the increase in the overall tax bill, La Presse reports it will be 2.2 per cent — in line with inflation — but then another 1.2 per cent will be added to bolster a special fund set up in 2003 to pay for replacing the city’s aging water production and distribution systems. The resulting 3.4-per-cent increase does not include borough taxes, which almost half of the 19 boroughs already charge, with more poised to do so. Plus, property owners in areas where property values have shot up faster than the average increase will see even bigger hikes.
City spokesperson Darren Becker refused to comment on the La Presse report.
“I’m not commenting on an anonymous source,” Becker told The Gazette, “but I can tell you that tomorrow at 9:30 (a.m., executive committee chair Michael) Applebaum will be before the finance commission to present the basic information and orientations of the administration for the budget and after that he will be available at 11:30 to take calls from journalists, so that’s all I can say for today.”
Bergeron said taxes will continue to grow and services will decline unless the administration is willing to do something about the pension plan and high salaries of municipal employees. He noted that the city is contributing 70 per cent to the pension plan with employees contributing 30 per cent, while most working Quebecers contribute at a rate of 50 per cent to their pensions. Also, he noted, too many city employees earn more than $100,000 — about 1,400 of the city’s 24,000 employees are in this income bracket — while the average Montrealer is earning only about $35,000.
If elected, Bergeron said he would ask the province to step in and legislate changes to bring remuneration and pension agreements for municipal employees across the province in line with other workers. He added the city also has too many managers — one for every nine employees, while the Quebec government has one for every 13 — and many of them are not actually managing anyone.
Louise Harel, leader of Vision Montréal, said she is not surprised or outraged to hear of the 3.4-per-cent increase, considering inflation and the need to replace Montreal’s ancient water infrastructure.
Harel said she is more concerned about the administration’s decision to give the boroughs discretion over five per cent of the city’s budget this year, and 10 per cent next. Harel said the decision will see all boroughs add a local tax, and this will lead to more increases for some taxpayers, and “great economic disparities” across the city, she said.