Beaconsfield Citizen's Association
AGGLO TAXES: 36% increase over 4 years!!!
It's the same story in 2023
Challenge the Agglo's abusive tax increases
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So, once again, the Agglo is over-taxing Beaconsfield citizens,
The surcharge is 11,2% on average for 2023! (Inflation was a mere 6%!)
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On average, every residence in Beaconsfield
pays to the Agglo 1,200 $ more than in 2019
These Agglo increases came without any additional service!
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Did we get 36% more policemen at our police station?
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Did the firefighters posted in Beaconsfield get 36% more salaries?
Where does that money go?
We pay for more sidewalks in the downtown area and more employees at the Montreal City hall!
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Meanwhile, the City of Montreal protects it's citizens:
The city of Montreal's budget provides for an average increase of:​
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2022: 2% in residential taxes ( 9,9% for Beaconsfield)!
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2023: 3% in residential taxes (11,9% for Beaconsfield!)
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WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
SPEAK UP, protest against the unfair tax increases and the wobbly structure
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We provide you four options to express your anger or concern.
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On the right of this page, you see menu items (not available on mobile). ------->>>
Select the one(s) that you want to use and you will be moved to the relevant section of this page:
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Read more about it: why and how this happened?
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Mark your total disagreement with this totally unfair situation by signing our petition
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Express yourself at the highest possible level by sending a letter to the Minister of Municipal affairs, to our MNA, to the City of Montreal Mayor Mrs Plante, and to the city of Beaconsfield mayor.
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Challenge your assessment increase
​YOUR ACTION AND SUPPORT IS ESSENTIAL
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​PLEASE DO IT NOW!
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Thank you to all of you,
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Michel Rheault, President,
Richard Gratton, Vice-President
Derrick Pounds. Secretary
Surinder Chugh, Director
Jasdeep Sign Ratol, Director
ACB-BCA
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1- THE FULL STORY
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Why does the Agglo overtax us?
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This injustice stems directly from the unilateral modification, in 2019, of the rules for calculating the taxes of the Agglo, established in the 2008 agreement during the reconstitution of the cities following the demergers of 2006.
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“This injustice is intolerable. It is inconceivable to pay more taxes, without additional services, just because of a faulty calculation algorithm that makes unfair sharing of regional service costs. This reduces, without reason, the contribution of cities with many businesses and industries to the detriment of cities where citizens pay the majority of municipal taxes,” notes Mayor Bourelle.[1]
This injustice gets worse in 2023
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The injustice experienced by Beaconsfield worsens with the increase in property values ​​in the 2023-2024-2025 property assessment roll voted in late 2022. Many are faced with more than 40% increase in their residence values and little change for commercial and industrial buildings.
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Beaconsfield sues the agglomeration
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In 2019, our city responded with a $2 million per year lawsuit [1] against the city of Montreal.
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This has been increased [2] to $4 million per year since 2022.
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2019, 2021 and 2022: The BCA reacted
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In November 2019, the Beaconsfield Citizen Association (BCA) organized [3] a letter campaign to the Minister of Municipal Affairs. This campaign generated dozens of letters.
This prompted our MNA to bring the two mayors and the Minister to the same table to discuss this.
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But the Mayor of Montreal was not interested in negotiating, this prevented any progress.
In the fall of 2021, the Quebec government issued a ministerial decree ratifying the unfair clause that allows Montreal to overtax suburban cities without increasing services.
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Following more unfair tax increases, the BCA organized two more complain letter campaign in November 2021 and December 2022, to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, our MNA and the two mayors.
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On February 28, 2022, the BCA wrote, again, to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Mrs. Andrée Laforest, to protest vehemently against this totally unacceptable and unfair situation.
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​The root cause
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In our view, the root cause of this situation is the Montreal Agglomeration, this wobbly structure that is deeply unfair to the citizens of suburban municipalities.
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What needs to change
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This unfair situation continues, we must react, once again.
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In today's the Agglomeration structure, we are taxed without any right of reply, and without extra services.
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We require a more equitable redefinition of this structure in order to at least have our say about our taxes.
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We also require cancellation of the ministerial decree to change this unsustainable status quo and eliminate this abusive and unfair taxation for the citizens of suburban cities of Montreal.​
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2- WRITE TO THE MINISTER OF MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS
<-LEFT: The ready-to-go letter. Simply click here, attach this PDF to your email, copy the below e-mail addresses and paste them in the To: section of your email. You can add a Title, such as "An angry Beaconsfield taxpayer", and any Comments you want in the text section, followed by your name and address (optional).
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RIGHT-> Here is a Word version of this letter that you can personalize, sign and send to the below e-mail addresses and paste them in the To: section of your email. You can also add a Title, such as "An angry Beaconsfield taxpayer", and any Comments you want in the text section, followed by your name and address (optional).
Click to download the PDF letter
Click to download the Word letter
Following are the e-mail addresses of the Minister, our MNA, the Mayors and relevant Associations
3- SIGN OUR PETITION
4- CHALLENGE YOUR ASSESSMENT ROLE
You can challenge your 2023-2024-2025 assessment role, which is used to calculate your taxes.
The whole process is explained in the link below, from finding the old and new assessments to the forms required to challenge this.
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https://bca-acb.wixsite.com/bca-acb/challenge-the-assessment-role
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