The official opposition fears that Montrealers will have to absorb the cost overruns of various projects out of the property tax, denouncing the poor financial management of the Plante administration.
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“We accumulate the most as if public money has no value. It’s unthinkable for anyone to go five times over budget when renovating our home. Why we do not have this limit in the City”, denounced Aref Salem, leader of the official opposition in Montreal.
Five major projects are mainly in the crosshairs of the opposition. The Center de transport Bellechasse, the restoration of the town hall, the ozonation unit, the organic matter processing centers and the information technologies would thus together accumulate nearly a billion $ in cost overruns, according to the calculations of the opposition.
“There is a lack of accountability, transparency and rigor. Behind closed doors, we don’t know how these subjects are treated,” said Aref Salem, leader of the official opposition.
The opposition is asking for better accountability, for example by proposing to make public assessments of how the money is spent. A lack of efficiency in the estimates would also cause problems, according to the party.
“Money is taken like Monopoly money. They must take seriously that it is the money of the citizens of Montreal. We are not against these projects, they must see the light of day. But it is abnormal to end up with such large increases, ”denounced Christine Black, mayor of Montreal-North.
At their side, Alan DeSousa, mayor of Saint-Laurent, invites them to “go back to school to learn how to manage projects”.
The municipal administration, for its part, defended itself against the accusations of the opposition.
“Each project is a special project. There may be reasons why there are cost overruns. We follow them and we are very transparent in the whole process”, indicated Dominique Ollivier, president of the executive committee of the City.
According to her, part of these cost increases can be explained by factors over which the City has no control, such as inflation and labor shortages.
“We are in a situation that makes it a little more difficult to predict. But we really keep it under control and we are very transparent,” she added.