Beaconsfield Citizen's Association

Here we expose the issue : the Agglo tax raise, the BCA answer and we suggest that you also support our reaction.

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The problem with those tax hikes :

 

11% tax hikes for Beaconsfield from the Agglo in 2020

 

As the Montreal Agglomeration Council made it's annual budget public, the Association of Suburban Municipalities (ASM) says its members are paying Montreal too much for services and is asking the Quebec government to step in to help negotiate a new way to calculate payments.  Here is an abstract from a Kathryn Greenaway article in the  November 26, 2019 Montreal Gazette:

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" The ASM represents about 250,000 citizens in 15 suburban municipalities on the island of Montreal. Suburbs are compelled to pay the Montreal Agglomeration Council for potable water, transportation, landfill transport and firefighting and police services. Some suburbs end up paying almost 50 per cent of their operational budget to the agglo and have no power when it comes time to sit down and discuss fiscal decisions. That’s because the ASM represents about 13 per cent of the vote, with Montreal and its boroughs controlling the rest.

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"Calculations are based solely on property values,” ASM president Beny Masella and mayor of demerged Montreal West said. “If property values go up, we pay more, but we’re not getting one more police car or one more road built. How can we justify that a police car in Beaconsfield costs more than a police car downtown? It’s absolute folly.” 

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When the property assessment roll for 2020-22 was released this fall, it showed a 25.9-per-cent property-value spike in Beaconsfield, the second-highest hike in the West Island after Dorval Island, at 27.4 per cent.

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The City’s budget listed substantial increases to the two suburbs’ agglo payments, with Beaconsfield now expected to pay 11.3 per cent more and Dorval Island 10.5 per cent.

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Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle has consistently criticized the way agglo payments are calculated. Last month, he urged West Island citizens to mobilize, encouraging them to call on the Quebec government to step in and make changes.

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“It’s not a bad budget, with the average of a 2.1-per-cent increase in taxes,” Bourelle said Tuesday. “However, I think the allocation of (agglo) payments is absolutely unjust and inequitable.”

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Bourelle said he would be asking why it is that Montreal and its boroughs pay 82.6 per cent of the service fees when the territory represents 87.89 per cent of the population.

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“That’s unfair,” he said. “I am upset and disappointed because my poor residents will have to pick up the bill and they don’t deserve it. They will pay extra for absolutely nothing.” "

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BCA action : support to the mayor's position

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On November 30, 2019, the BCA sent a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, supporting the ASM and Mayor Bourelle's position.

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YOUR ACTION : Your support is required

 

We encourage all residents of  Beaconsfield  and other suburban municipalities to do the same to make their voice heard on this important issue by sending a letter the Minister of Municipalities.

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You can send the letter by e-mail copying the below listed e-mail addresses. Make sure to cc  BCA-ACB so we can measure these important reactions. It is concerted community efforts like this that are needed to change the untenable status quo and arrive at a more equitable and sustainable  Montreal Agglo Taxation formula for suburban municipalities that eliminate the present unfair and unjust over taxation home owners of suburban municipalities are burdened with.