Agglo payment bites into Pointe-Claire budget
For the first time since PointeClaire demerged in 2006, more than half its budget will go the Montreal Agglomeration Council.
Council adopted the city’s $144.5 million budget for 2019 last week and during the budget presentation, Mayor John Belvedere voiced frustration with the breakdown of the tax dollar.
“Fifty-one cents of every tax dollar goes to the agglo and 49 cents goes to Pointe-Claire,” he said.
For the first time, the city has detailed the breakdown on the tax bill residents receive in the mail. Belvedere said it was important that tax payers see the reality in black and white.
The mayor said that what makes the numbers even harder to take is the fact that the 15 demerged cities belonging to the agglomeration only represent 12.5 per cent of the vote whenever an agglo decision is made, which essentially leaves them powerless when it comes to voting on spending decisions.
Pointe-Claire’s contribution to the agglo, which pays for services including transportation, municipal court, policing and firefighting, increases by $5.4 million — or 3.3 per cent — from this year. It would have been even higher if it weren’t for an applied agglo credit. A three-year roll out of agglo credits benefiting the majority of municipalities was launched after it was discovered that the calculations used for payments was flawed and municipalities had been consistently overpaying the agglo for years.
Aggravating Pointe-Claire’s budget woes is what took place in late 2017 and early 2018. Last December, the city adopted its budget with a tax increase based on the estimated 1.2 per cent rate of inflation. But when Montreal adopted its budget for 2018 one month later, Pointe-Claire was hit with a 6.3 per cent increase.
The tax bills had already been mailed, so council decided to dip into the surplus and put projects on hold to absorb the hit.
Last month, Montreal adopted its $5.7 billion budget for 2019. Pointe-Claire’s share of payments to the agglo was set at $64.7 million. All this led to what Belvedere described as a “heavy burden” on the budget. Absorbing the unexpected 2018 hike, addressing the cost of goods and services and honouring binding collective agreements has resulted in citizens taking a hit in 2019.
The mill rate jumps to 0.9434 per $100 evaluation from 0.8908 per $100 evaluation in 2018 — a 5.9 per cent increase. This means that a homeowner of an average-valued house — estimated at $394,110 — will pay an extra $207 for a total tax bill of $3,718. Of the $207, $70 goes to Pointe-Claire and $137 to Montreal.
The tax for Pointe-Claire’s water metres is set at 0.7957/m³.
The three-year capital works program has reserved $29.2 million for projects in 2019, $54.2 million for 2020 and $73.3 million for 2021. Building upgrades and infrastructure work take the biggest chunk in 2019 — $11.9 million for infrastructure and $8.3 million for building upgrades.
The $4.6 million earmarked for parks and green spaces will pay for the installation of the new Tony-Proudfoot Park, named in honour of the late CFL football player, near the intersection of Gendron and Des Frênes Avenues.
The mayor said he didn’t think any decision about what work would be done in Alexandre-Bourgeau Park would be made this coming year, but it was possible public consultations on the subject would take place.