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2019 AT THE COUNCIL

The BCA is at the Beaconsfield Council meetings. We use this public access to question the Mayor and the councillors on their reactions to new issues, on their plans and on the results of their previous actions. The interactions at these question periods are webcasted live and on demand

Council Meeting : December 2019

Several members of the BCA executive attended the three meetings held at Beaconsfield City Hall on December 16, 2019.

The three main themes were:

  • Three-year capital investment plan, CIP

  • The city’s budget and the resulting Beaconsfield tax increase,

  • The increase in agglomeration taxes.

1- Three-year investment plan: a question of transparency

We asked for more details on the 2020-21-22 three-year capital plan. This plan indicates in 5 lines that nearly $ 37 Million is planned for the next three years. It’s almost twice the city’s annual budget. The request was denied.

During the previous fifteen years, the city published detailed tables of 30 to 50 lines giving the list of priorities and the budget for each project including funding sources i.e. loans, budget, working capital, reserves or subsidies). No more source of funding has been indicated since the last 2 years.

Compared to the Beaconsfield 5 line CPI the following cities show their detailed current CPI’s on their websites:

  • Pointe Claire (15 pages)

  • Urfé Bay (2 pages)

  • Sainte-Anne de Bellevue (6 pages)

  • Laval (100 pages including budget)

  • Longueuil (25 pages)

  • Montreal (Excel file over more than 100 pages)

2- Budget

The city’s spending is increasing by 4.92%, (more than double the rate of inflation)

We mentioned to the mayor that in order to save time at the council meeting the BCA would write a letter summarizing questions on the 2020 Beaconsfield budget.

3- Agglo taxes

The BCA has already reacted publicly on November 30 by launching a campaign against the overtaxtion of suburban municipalities ( about 12 Million in 2020 for Beaconsfield )   by the Agglo by writing to the Quebec Minister of Municipalities. ( https://bca-acb.wixsite.com/bca-acb/taxes  ) The mayor thanked the BCA for their efforts and asked that as many  Beaconsfield citizens as possible would express their concerns also in writing to the Minister.

The municipal administration plans to seek legal advice on this issue. See:

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/west-island-gazette/beaconsfield-considers-legal-action-to-recoup-agglomeration-payments/

12 Capital plan, Budget, Agglo taxes

Council Meeting : November 2019

BCA Executive Committee members attended the Beaconsfield Council Meeting on November 11, 2019. We brought 2 items during question period  to the mayor and counsellors attention :

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1- Basement flooding’s during power outages / use of Hydraulic sump pump

Recent and prolonged electricity outages resulted in a great number of basement flooding’s in Beaconsfield. BCA suggested that home owners who are exposed to water infiltration in their basement install in addition to their regular sump pump a hydraulic – non electric – sump pump which would kick in automatically when the regular sump pump has no power.

 

We promised to provide the city with a link to an explanatory You Tube video and a list of a variety of hydraulic pump models readily available at all mayor retail outlets. The mayor welcomed the suggestion and is looking into commutating same to Beaconsfield residents through the usual available channels.

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2- Marina Management agreement with the Club Nautique Lord Reading (LRYC) in the future called “ Beaconsfield Centennial Marina “

Item 60.4 on the agenda read “Approval of the management agreement of the Beaconsfield Centennial Marina between the City and Club Nautique Lord Reading”. 

 

BCA asked for a copy of the agreement after the official signatures. The request was refused and we were asked to obtain same through the “Commission d’accès à l’information”. This process that will take at least 12-18 months based on our experience of our previous request or a copy of the current 3 year Capital Program Plan.

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BCA had sub-questions on that matter. They included :

  • Duration of the agreement? The answer was 15 years plus 5 extra

  • What revenues will the city receive or have to pay from / or to LRYC under the agreement ? No answer was given 

 

BCA also has some additional important points need clarification:

  • Do Beaconsfield citizens gain free access to the site for leisure activities ?

  • Is the  mooring of boats going to be on a preferential basis for Beaconsfield Citizens ?

  • Is the LRYC going to have club facilities in a building at the marina front ?

  • Are there boat storage accommodations being made available for Beaconsfield residents as well as LRYC members ?

  • Will there be a restaurant and or refreshment facilities at the marina building and as well at the new cultural center ?

 

What the BCA is looking for is reasonable transparency.

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Overall we are most certain that the IMAGINE project that includes the Marina at Centennial Park is going to be a success and for the benefit of all.

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But the BCA continues to look for pertinent information on these important questions in its endeavours to keep Beaconsfield residents informed.

11 Sump Pump and Marina

Council Meeting : October 2019

The BCA was at the Beaconsfield Council Meeting on October 22, 2019.

We raised two questions to the mayor and counsellors :

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1- Sound wall preliminary study :

We asked when was the last contact between the city's personnel and the Transport ministry (QMT) or the consultant on this project. 

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The Mayor insisted to say that this is not a city's project, but a QTM project. By this, he clearly wants to put a separation with the project. (Isn't it a funny attitude toward a project aimed at ending the suffering of many thousands of his citizens?)

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Answering the question, the GM said no new meeting was held for many months. The last they heard of  was last spring or early summer when they were said the report and consultation would be delayed from late October to "this fall".

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2- Ash Borer :

Following a recent news article about the city of Montreal preparing to cut many thousand trees because they were infected by the Emerald ash borer, we asked if the city of Beaconsfield was planning such a measure. 

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The GM said this is because the city of Montreal was late to respond to this infestation. They now have to use more radical measures. The tree cutting activity is already used in Beaconsfield when the tree is too infected. The city was an early adopter (5 or 6 years ago) of the protection measures, which possibly helped in the low levels of infection in our city (5% as of last spring status).

10 Ash Borer, Sound wall

Council Meeting : September 2019

The BCA was at the Beaconsfield Council Meeting on September 23, 2019.
We raised two questions to the mayor and counsellors :
1- Why raise city taxes when you have received 2 Millions $ of extra unbudgetted welcome tax per year for the past 5 year?

2- Snowmelter for 617,000$

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Question 1- WHY RAISE TAXES ?

How dare you to raise city taxes by up to 2% while the welcome tax money is pouring in ?
 

The Mayor announced in the June 2019 CONTACT that the city received 2 Millions $ of extra unbudgetted welcome tax per year for the past 5 year for a total of 10 Million $ in operation surplus.

 

This month, the Agglo announced that the residential evaluation will be raised by as much as 26%. Earlier today, Mr Mayor, added that Beaconsfield was hit the most by these raises. So he quickly wanted to reassure to the citizens by saying don't worry, " we will keep tax increases within inflation (2%)".

 

How can you raise taxes when your pockets are full ? Why not talk about giving us a break, even temporarily lowering taxes with that extra money ?

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  • The mayor's first answer was to attack me saying "I don't know where you took your accounting courses ?". (I am not an accountant)

  • Then he said there is a big need for the city for a lot of projects in the next few years that will require financing. So we will either finance it with our surpluses or by borrowing money. The projects we are thinking of are the infrastructures, we have people that want to have new pools, we have people that want to see parks and chalets improved, we have a lot of projects on the table. That 10 million $ will not even cover all those projects.

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MORE DEBT

 

So we added that for the same 5 years the city collected 10 Million $ in surpluses, the debt was raised from 12 to 16 Millions $. So the more the city collects, the more the city borrows. And when the welcome tax bonanza will end, we will be stuck with a very high level of debts.

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  • The mayor answered that when the welcome tax slows down, we will be more that happy that we have built a cushion and we will have to raise taxes by 2% instead of 10+ % as can be seen at the city of Montreal or the Agglo level.

  • The mayor concluded that he heard nothing but congratulations from citizens for the way we managed this situation.

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PRIORITIES
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I concluded that the usage of these surpluses is a matter of setting priority.

  • Do we need 4 outdoor public pools to be renovated at a cost of 5 Millions $ each ?

  • Do we need to move the library from where it is ?

  • Where can we see the city's priorities when you no longer give the citizens access to the 3 years capital program ?

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Question 2 - ACQUIRING A SNOWMELTER FOR 617,000$

Item 20.1 Acquisition of a snowmelter at the cost of 617,263$ to the single conforming bidder.

 

Our questions were :
-Can we have access to the study which concluded that a snowmelter was required ?
-What are the expected savings ?
-What is the payback (period of time needed for the saving to recover for the costs) ?
-And we were surprized by the fact that, for the second month in a row, a major acquisition was made with a single bidder (in August a single bidder was found for a dump truck costing 250,000$).

 

The GM answers were :

  • "when over 100,000$ we have to go to the public bidding system (SEAO) otherwise we go by invitation to get a few responses.

  • The reason for this acquisition is that the city has no more option to dump our snow in neighbouring collaborating cities since they need more space for themselves, so we have to find a new solution.

  • The pay back is that it is much cheaper than purchasing a property somewhere and investing on the site to make it satisfy the environment regulations.

  • About savings, we do not expect much savings even if the operation will be equivalent or maybe cheaper than to haul the snow to a dumping site.​

09 Why raise taxe?

Council Meeting : August 2019

Montreal announces the biggest urban park in the country

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The BCA was at the City Hall for the public Council Meeting. Our question was about last week’s announcement of the new great urban park located in the west island. Beaconsfield contribution will be the area known as Angel Woods. Over the years the city paid big money (many hundred thousand $) to acquire land and in legal fees. Citizens from Baie D’Urfé, Kirkland and Pierrefonds, to name a few, did not invest all that money over the years. We asked the mayor if all this money is lost to the city. The Mayor did not answer to that. He answered that Beaconsfield will pay it’s fair share as every other city involved. In other words, that money is gone and irrecoverable.

08 Urban Park

Council Meeting : July 2019

Flood Zones

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The main topic was the the establishment of a Special Intervention Zone (SIZ) created following the 2017 and 2019 floods, and its effects on properties located near Lac Saint-Louis that are included in this zone in Beaconsfield. 

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The mayor had a resolution voted to oppose to that draft order because about 200 houses are identified in the so-called 0-20 years (red) zone but none were flooded for many decades, or in the 2017 or 2019 floods. 

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Still, the residents must inform the "Ministère des Affaires Municipales..." (MAM) that their residence was NOT flooded in 2017 or in 2019 and that it should be removed from that red zone.

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At a July 4 Public Consultation meeting organized by the MAM in Pointe Claire, it was said that all building construction and renovation are forbided in the red zone. In order to be out of that red zone you must communicate with the MAM.

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To see the so-called 0-20 flooded zones (French) :http://www.cehq.gouv.qc.ca/zones-inond/carto-zones-inondees-2017-2019.htm

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To see the draft decree and the Special Intervention Zone (French) : http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=13&file=1924A-F.PDF

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To see the July 4 presentation slides : https://www.mamh.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/publications/ministere/inondations_printanieres_2019/assemblee_publique_zis.pdf

 

To transmit your comments via email or to exclude your property from the SIZ : zis2019@mamh.gouv.qc.ca

07 Floods
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