Montreal borough mayors complain about downtown’s lack of funds – Montreal
Some Montreal borough mayors are sounding the alarm: local taxes could increase while services are cut due to the lack of transfer payments from the City of Montreal.
The mayors of Montreal North, St-Laurent and Outremont held a press conference Wednesday, saying downtown payments are not keeping up with inflation.
Last year, they say, their local budgets increased by one percent, while this year it’s only two percent.
“Going from one to two percent doesn’t even get us to first base,” said Alan DeSousa, mayor of the borough of Saint-Laurent.
DeSousa says needed upgrades to the Hartenstein Park municipal pool cannot be completed due to a lack of city funds.
“Some of our pools cost a fortune to be able to redo and they’re held together by a band-aid,” DeSousa said.
It’s a similar situation in Outremont where the borough mayor says public services are at risk due to a lack of funds.
“We can’t develop and maintain our infrastructure because we don’t have the necessary staff. So, you know, there will probably be cuts,” said Laurent Desbois, mayor of the borough of Outremont.
Meanwhile, in suburban towns and villages, many local mayors are complaining about being overcharged by downtown to pay for shared utilities such as police and public transit.
Some suburbs are required to send more than half of their annual income to Montreal.
Dorval had to freeze the construction of a refrigerated skating rink because most of its budget revenue is sent to Montreal.
“It doesn’t seem to make much sense to our taxpayers,” Marc Doret, mayor of Dorval, told PKBNEWS.
In a text message to PKBNEWS, Marikym Gaudreault, spokesperson for Montreal’s executive committee, writes that the city has reached the end of its funding model for municipalities and boroughs and that a summit involving cities and towns in Quebec starts Thursday to find new ways to finance them.
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