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Demerged Montreal burbs face massive tax hikes, over 20%

M

miketoronto

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Check this out guys. Montreal's suburbs that seperated from the megacity, are now facing massive tax increases. Some over 20%

From The Star.

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Once married, Montreal and suburbs fight over money
15 suburbs split from the megacity

Some residents face big tax hikes
Mar. 4, 2006. 01:00 AM
JASON MAGDER
SPECIAL TO THE STAR


MONTREAL—The mayors of 15 Montreal suburbs say the city has illegally passed expenses on to them and they want Quebec's Liberal government to force changes to the island-wide budget.

"We estimate the city passed on at least ($105 million) to the suburbs," says Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti, whose town is home to about 20,000 people. Beaconsfield's average 21 per cent tax increase is the highest on the Island of Montreal.

On Jan. 1, a group of 15 suburbs on the Island of Montreal broke away from the megacity. Residents of the municipalities had voted in a referendum in June 2004 in favour of de-amalgamation.

When they received their tax bills late in January, many residents of those new suburbs saw double-digit hikes for 2006, while megacity residents had no significant increases. The new suburbs are located mostly in the western part of the island, which has the highest concentration of English speakers.

"Montreal is just dumping expenses onto the suburbs of the West End and West Island," says Beaconsfield resident Umberto Mariani, whose taxes rose by 31 per cent. "We're being taken for a ride and Quebec is allowing this."

The suburbs say Montreal has taken advantage of its dominant position on the island-wide council, which governs services shared by the city and the suburbs, such as police and fire protection. With just 200,000 of Montreal island's 1.8 million population, the suburbs make up 13 per cent of the vote on the island-wide council. However, the law allows them 30 days to ask Quebec to review any decision reached by the council.

The 15 suburban mayors met last month with a consultant and lawyer to analyze the area-wide budget. They then held special council meetings to ratify motions of opposition to the budget and sent them to Quebec Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau, who must make a ruling in the coming weeks.

"Our (city) council insists that I oppose this budget," says Ed Janiszewski, mayor of Dollard des Ormeaux. "There are no tax increases for the city, but we're paying for that. It's immoral and unjustifiable."

Dollard des Ormeaux's 17 per cent increase is the island's second-highest.


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`There are no tax increases for the city, but we're paying for that'

Ed Janiszewski, mayor of Dollard des Ormeaux

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John Meaney, mayor of the town of Kirkland, is hopeful Quebec will ask Montreal to draw up a new, more equitable budget. If that happens, residents of the suburbs would get tax credits and city dwellers would pay more tax.

"I hope that there would be a supplementary budget issued," Meaney says. "But that's a big hope."

If Quebec rules against the suburbs, Montreal's mayors are threatening to initiate a class-action lawsuit against both the city and the province.

The suburban mayors complain they are paying for Montreal's bad spending habits. The 2006 budget increased expenditures by 4.5 per cent, for a total increase of 21 per cent since 2002.

"The (budget) process was one that I found to be offensive because we were not included at all," says Westmount Mayor Karin Marks, a spokeswoman for the suburbs. "The 15 suburbs together contribute more than $300 million to (a $3.8 billion) budget. We had a right to be included in the development of that budget."

But the megacity councillor in charge of finances says all the rules were respected.

"We have to trust that it was a transparent process done properly," Frank Zampino says, adding that suburban dwellers were warned before the referendum campaign in 2004 that taxes would rise.

The suburban mayors have asked their residents to complain about their tax bills to their members of the provincial National Assembly. However, Mariani feels the government takes the suburbs for granted, because they have a high proportion of English-speaking residents who traditionally vote Liberal.

"We have elected all these Liberal MNAs and they never do anything for us," Mariani says. "They know that English-speaking communities will vote Liberal no matter what."

The 15 suburbs are: Baie d'Urfé, Beaconsfield, Côte St. Luc, Dollard des Ormeaux, Dorval, Dorval Island, Hampstead, Kirkland, Montreal East, Montreal West, Pointe Claire, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Senneville, Town of Mount Royal and Westmount.
 
The only thing worse than the Megacity is the demerger. I was against the amalgamation, and don't feel it has brought the benefits it was supposed to, but having gone through that I also think it's time to move on and forward. Montreal will be repeating this battle in a million ways over the next many years.
 

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