L’Assomption threatens to auction the land of the municipal nursery of Montreal, which is located on its territory. She maintains that the Plante administration owes her nearly $160,000 in unpaid taxes.
The missive is lapidary: “Take notice that the buildings listed below will be sold at public auction […] Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 10 a.m. […] for non-payment of municipal taxes and other charges”, signs Jean-Michel Frédérick, clerk and lawyer for the City of L’Assomption.
Among the 19 properties targeted, there are a handful of houses and vacant lots belonging to a few individuals… but above all the vast nursery that the City of Montreal has owned for twenty years, on which it grows plants that it then replants in its streets and parks.
The public notice can be found since October 4 on the L’Assomption website, in Lanaudière, and it was also placed in the local newspaper Weekly North Shore.
Last chance
Offenders can avoid losing their property if they pay their dues “with costs incurred” by the auction.
In the case of the City of Montreal, the debt amounts to exactly $159,765.01.
Photos Jean-Louis Fortin
The auction sale notice issued by the City of L’Assomption, because Montreal neglects to pay its due.
The Assumption stresses that it does so under the Cities and Towns Act. This provincial law effectively allows municipalities to sell an immovable at auction “after the expiry of six months following the date of the notice of deposit of the collection roll”.
Since Tuesday, our Bureau of Investigation has questioned the City of Montreal about this debt. Initially, spokesperson Gonzalo Nunez replied by email that the file was “regularized” and that the City would pay the required amounts.
But a few hours later, after we asked him if the debt would be paid in full, his answer on the progress of the talks was less affirmative: “The City of Montreal and the City of L’Assomption will regularize this file in the coming days,” he wrote.
Exempt
Mr. Nunez argues that “the City of Montreal is exempt from paying municipal taxes” under the law.
“However, the City of L’Assomption still charged the City of Montreal with compensation for municipal services, which led to discussions between the two municipalities,” he added.
The mayor of L’Assomption, Sébastien Nadeau, did not respond to our request for an interview on Thursday.
Montreal’s municipal nursery houses nearly 80,000 specimens of trees and shrubs. It is twice as big as La Fontaine Park.