Over half of taxes collected heading to agglo
Dollard-des- Ormeaux has adopted a $89.4 million budget for 2019, an increase of $3.9 million over 2018.
Residents will see a 2.49 per cent increase in taxes.
“Over all, it’s a fair tax increase, but I want to be clear that the tax increase is due solely to the Montreal Agglomeration Council,” Mayor Alex Bottausci said.
Dollard-des-Ormeaux found itself in a similar situation to the majority of other demerged municipalities when preparing the 2019 budget.
In 2018, Montreal hit the demerged suburbs with an increase in budget-share payments to the agglo that doubled, in some cases tripled, the rate of inflation. The move was unexpected, causing municipalities to scramble to find ways to avoid transferring the entire weight of the increase, in one shot, to residents. In most cases, to ease the tax impact, they drew on surplus funds and cut back on projects.
Dollard managed to handle much of the hit in 2018, but a chunk of the impact remained, which resulted in the 2019 tax hike.
The city’s budget share payable to the agglo increases by $2.5 million to $43.19 million in 2019. The amount represents 48.3 of the city’s budget. In 2018, Dollard’s agglo share represented 47.6 per cent of the budget.
The residential mill rate increases to 0.971 per $100 evaluation from 0.956 in 2018. The average price of a home in Dollard is $433,600 which means the homeowner will pay $4210.26 — an extra $116 over 2018. Add the $220 water tax and the total tax bill will be $4,430.26.
The mill rate for both industrial and commercial properties increases to 3.535 per $100 evaluation from 3.495 in 2018.
Bottausci voiced frustration with the increased budget shares paid to the agglo, saying the suburbs “pay, pay, pay” but see little in the way of interesting projects that would improve the quality of life for West Islanders.
Bottausci also voiced concern about plans to shrink parking availability at the REM stations planned for Kirkland and Pointe-Claire.
“What’s the thinking here?” he said. “Reduced parking is just not going to work for my residents. We don’t mind paying our bills, but we would like to see some meaningful projects for the region, in return.”
LIBRARY, ARENA UPGRADES
The three-year capital works program will see $17.8 million in projects in 2019. The two biggest projects, for a combined cost of $8.6 million, are the overhaul of the library and the reconstruction of three concrete slabs in the arena. The library project is budgeted at around $5 million, with a grant covering close to half the cost.
A new chalet in Sunnybrooke Park, plus renovations to other park chalets have been budgeted at $2 million and $1 million is slated for the installation of a water play park at the Lake Rd. Park. LED lighting will be installed along pathways and in parks for an estimated $1 million. And $4 million will be spent on underground infrastructure upgrades and road work.
Projected capital works spending is $4.5 million for 2020 and $5.4 million for 2021.