The Official Opposition at City Hall and the demerged cities will vote against the 2022 budget presented by Mayor Valérie Plante and her administration.
Posted at 12:44 p.m.
Ensemble Montreal, the former party of Denis Coderre, argued that the budget presented just before the holidays overestimated the city’s revenues and ignored the outbreak of COVID-19. “This is the year when the boat takes on water,” summed up Aref Salem, the leader of the opposition.
“This budget, it is not made on a good basis,” he said. The elected official criticizes the mayor and her team for not having waited until the end of 2021 to know the actual results of the year and instead for having relied on financial projections.
“It is also a budget where the promises of Projet Montréal are not kept,” Mr. Salem lamented, pointing in particular to a lack of investment in affordable housing.
The 2022 budget “could well be the tipping point for a much more unpleasant change for Montrealers, either an increase in taxes or a reduction in services,” continued the Leader of the Opposition.
Mayor Plante was quick to react.
“Our administration’s budget allows us to face the challenges related to the pandemic context while accelerating the priorities of Montrealers, particularly in housing, ecological transition and security,” she said in a statement sent by her cabinet. This budget is connected to the reality and the needs of the population. »
Suburban mayors opposed
The Association of Suburban Mayors (AMB) also recommends that the mayors of linked cities vote against this budget at the agglomeration council.
The group denounces the formula for calculating quotas which would disadvantage essentially residential cities such as Beaconsfield, Montreal West or Hampstead.
“We strongly recommend that our fellow mayors and mayors of the towns of the agglomeration do not support their adoption since they do not meet the expectations expressed”, thus wrote George Bourelle and Alex Bottausci, respectively mayors of Beaconsfield. and Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
“The notion of tax equity between all municipalities on the island of Montreal remains an unresolved issue, despite our repeated appeals to the authorities (Montreal and governmental) in this regard,” they wrote. “The financial effort required of the citizens of our municipalities is colossal, when they already pay 56% more than those of the City of Montreal, despite the fact that they receive fewer services. »