Valerie Plante's administration at the City of Montreal released its 2023 budget Tuesday, and it includes the largest property tax increase since 2010.
Residential property taxes collected by the city will go up an average of 4.1 per cent in 2023.
"With this budget, the city has done everything possible to limit tax increases, while maintaining high quality municipal services," said Plante in a statement.
The tax increase varies by borough and property valuation, with Ile-Bizard residents seeing the largest increase at 6 per cent, Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is second with 5.7 per cent and Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is third with 5.4 per cent. The Ville-Marie borough seeing the smallest increase -- far below the others -- at 1.7 per cent, with Montreal North and Saint-Leonard at 3.2 and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
"Of course it is going to be difficult for some families. So I guess what we’re trying to do here is to limit or at least take some pressure off as much as we can," said Plante.
The city estimates that for a home worth $567,000, the average value for a residence, the tax increase will be $164 a year.
But that amount can vary depending on the borough and type of property.
Here's the breakdown by borough:
Many homeowners recently saw a big jump in their municipal evaluations, even as the real estate market cools off.
Montreal executive committee chair Dominique Ollivier said the city is prepared for a decrease in tax revenue, if homeowners decide to contest their evaluation and win.
"Every year, I would say there are contests. Some of them win, some of them lose and we have a provision for that also in our budget," she said.
SPENDING UP BY $300 MILLION
The increase in taxes is meant to make up the $300 million increased spending, which rose from $6.46 billion to $6.76 billion.
The Montreal police force will see its budget expand by $63.2 million, for a total of $787.1 million in 2021. The plan is to hire 270 police officers between now and 2025.
"This is what Montrealers are looking for. They want to have a safe, secure city," said Mayor Plante.
Most of that money is a result a five-year funding plan granted by the Quebec government to increase police presence in the city.
Some other highlights:
Environment:
$682 million for the replacement of incinerators at the Jean-R.-Marcotte wastewater treatment station, as they generated 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions among municipal buildings
$461 million for the ozonation plant designed to significantly improve water quality in the Saint-Lawrence River
Affordable housing:
$480 million over 10 years for affordable housing units, including for the purchase of land and buildings through preemptive rights
Mobility:
$507 million over 10 years to improve the safety of the bike path network, as well as to expand and maintain it
$476 million to maintain and improve road infrastructure
$40 million per year to make public transit free for seniors across the island of Montreal
Here's how the municipal money is being spent:
There will also be a 2.9 per cent increase in taxes on commercial properties. It was 1.5 per cent in 2022.
LISTEN ON CJAD 800 RADIO: Dominique Ollivier, President of the Executive Committee of the City of Montreal, on Budget 2023
'BLOW TO MONTREALERS': OPPOSITION
Montreal's opposition Ensemble Montreal called the budget "a real blow to Montrealers," saying it is "irresponsible" to raise property taxes by 4.1 per cent rather than providing relief to taxpayers at a time of skyrocketing inflation.
"When it's not the pandemic's fault, it's inflation's fault. The reality is that budgeting will always be subject to disruption," said Aref Salem, leader of the official opposition party at City Hall. "It requires making choices and this administration has decided to stay in its ivory tower rather than listen to the cry of Montrealers who have been saying for months that they don't have the capacity to take on more."
Ensemble Montreal councillors say the city should be managing its money better, especially with a recession looming.
"It's not by increasing the budgets that you're actually operating the city efficiently and giving good services -- and that's my point -- we've seen that spending alone will not solve the problem, it's better management," said St-Laurent borough Mayor Alan DeSousa.
RENTS EXPECTED TO INCREASE
CORPIQ, the Quebec landlord's association, said the hike in property taxes will likely lead to rent increases.
To avoid the added pressure on tenants and homeowners, CORPIQ president Benoit Ste-Marie said the city needs to find other ways to make money
"The system we're in was decided more than 25 years ago. It has to be upgraded for facing new issues for cities," he said. "The way its financed right now by few revenues… it puts a lot of pressure on the citizens and that has to be reviewed."
DEMERGED CITIES SEE INCREASED TRANSFER PAYMENTS
Demerged municipalities will also see an increase in transfer payments.
Cities and towns like Kirkland, Pointe-Claire, Montreal West and Beaconsfield, which are not boroughs of Montreal, still need to transfer money to the centre city for services like emergency responders and water.
For years, demerged municipalities have been asking for their transfer payments to be reviewed.
Montreal West has among the highest, at a more than 12 per cent hike.
Beny Masella, president of the Association of Demerged Municipalities, is also the suburb's mayor.
"I'll look at Pointe-Claire, Baie d'Urfe, these people don't have buses going there. They don't have a lot more buses, they don't have more police cars going through the town, but now their bill is going up 10, 15 per cent," he said. "They're not getting an extra cent from the agglomeration. It just makes no sense."
With files from CTV News Montreal's Matt Grillo.
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