Pierrefonds-Roxboro residents to see small borough tax increase

Pierrefonds-Roxboro adopted its $32.2 million operating budget for the Montreal borough on Monday and outlined $5.8 million in projects for 2020 as part of its threeyear capital works program.

Residents will see a slight hike in their services tax, commonly known as the borough tax rate, with an increase to $0.0730 per $100 of evaluation from 0.0706 per $100 evaluation in 2019. That means the owner of an average-priced house in the borough — valued at $367,240 — will pay $268.09 in borough taxes, an increase of $19.70.

Montreal tabled its $6.2-billion budget last week. Spending was up by 8.1 per cent over 2019. Mayor Valérie Plante said that’s because the city will be paying a larger chunk of the cost for capital projects up front.

Investments focus on the environment, housing and public transportation. The average tax hike is 2.1 per cent.

In Pierrefonds-Roxboro estimated spending is up $725,100. Mayor Jim Beis said in an email that the uptick is due to increases in spending in a number of areas including salaries and benefits; vehicle repairs and rentals; professional fees and technical services; transportation and communications and office supplies and grants.

Estimated income in all categories is up. The money the borough receives through transfers from Montreal (centre city) is up $456,900 to $24,736,100. Revenue from the borough tax is up $459,400 to $5,977,000 and income from local sources, including hall rentals and oaths, is up $133,800 to $1,524,500. In 2019, $325,000 of accumulated surplus was used to balance the budget. A balanced budget is required, by provincial law.

No accumulated surplus was used to balance the budget in 2020.

Beis said the borough had been dipping into the surplus fund every year for the past three years in order to balance the budget. He said no surplus would be used in 2020 because the fund is shrinking and it is important to put funds aside for emergencies, such as spring flooding.

The two biggest pieces of the budget pie go towards public works (51.3 per cent) and sports, leisure, culture and social development (25 per cent).