Mobility was at the top of the concerns of the population of Lévis during the last election campaign and yet, the City remains timid in its investments in public transport, devoting less than 4% of its budget of 358.7 million dollars to its public transport company. collective transport.
Lévis continues its demographic boom, breaking for a fourth consecutive year the construction record set the previous year. The whole of 2021 had seen the growth of 2,500 new housing units on its territory: eleven months were enough for 2022 to cross the 3,000 mark.
This rapid influx of people generates irritants, in particular a significant increase in congestion during peak hours. The issue figured prominently in the last election,
Highway 20 will go from two to three lanes in Lévis over the next few years, a project whose bill should vary from 80 to 90 million dollars, according to the Ministry of Transport. The government of François Legault also promises a third link between Lévis and Quebec to unclog the road network on the south shore, a tunnel estimated, for the moment, at 6.5 billion dollars.
Modest investments
Meanwhile, the municipality spends less than $90 per capita on its transit company. In its 2023 budget, Lévis is injecting an additional $300,000 into the ST Lévis, bringing the total envelope granted by the City to $13.6 million. This is a peak in the history of the municipality.
Mayor Gilles Lehouillier defends his balance sheet, arguing that the envelope granted to the transport company has more than tripled in 10 years. “We had a lot of catching up to do,” said the elected official during the presentation of the budget on Monday. We are catching up. »
Mr. Lehouillier adds that public transit is the subject of major investments, in particular to electrify the bus fleet, build a new garage and develop reserved lanes along Boulevard Guillaume-Couture, the backbone of its network. municipal road.
However, it is impossible, on weekends, to leave by bus from Quebec City to Lévis after 10 p.m. Even the journeys within this amalgamated municipality remain laborious. It often takes an hour to reach the crossing from Saint-Jean-Chrysostome, a route that takes two to three times less time by car. Ditto for CEGEP students who live in the east of the city: the bus will take an hour to transport them to CEGEP de Lévis. The car will require three times less.
“Per capita, Lévis puts less money than other equivalent cities on public transport, deplores the sole elected official of the opposition, Serge Bonin. It may be necessary to make a very important shift to put what it takes to make it attractive [et] interesting. For the moment, we are not there. »
Mayor Lehouillier insists: his city has nothing to envy to cities of similar size like Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke or Saguenay. These, however, do not face an economic center the size of Quebec. The comings and goings of cars between the two shores sees daily circulation, according to MTQ data, of more than 175,000 cars on the Quebec and Pierre-Laporte bridges.
Dependence on taxes to be reduced
Lévis hoped, in 2015, to accommodate 8,500 new housing units by 2025. However, five years were enough to reach this milestone. This meteoric expansion, the fastest among the 10 largest cities in Quebec, increases the municipality’s revenues – as well as the expenses necessary to provide services to a rapidly growing population.
Lévis’ debt, by 2023, should reach $529 million, estimates Josée Bélanger, director of finance and treasurer, an increase of $41 million compared to 2021. Growing revenues allow the ratio to be reduced. of total long-term debt on income. The latter reached 144% in 2020 to decrease to 129% in 2021.
Lévis is also beginning a reflection to diversify its sources of income and reduce its dependence on property taxes. In its $358.7 million budget presented Monday, $308 million, or 86% of the total, comes from tax collection.
The latter, in 2023, increase in a modulated way according to the sectors. Owners of single-family residences will see their property tax increased by 2.6%, while owners of multiplexes with six or more units will see it jump by 5.5%. Industries will collect an increase of 5.3%, farmers will absorb an increase of 4.6%, traders, 4.4%.