An increase that will exceed 10%
The City talks about an increase in property taxes between 3% and 6%, which is not the reality because a large majority of owners have already received an increase in the value of their property, which is already an increase in the tax account. In our case and that of several people around me and neighbours, the increase in value exceeds $200,000. In my opinion, the actual increase will exceed 10%. Very disappointed with this administration.
Claude Forrest
Clean up
For me, it’s like health needs: clean up your yard before begging. Be more efficient then we will put more money. In business, we review the processes and improve them. I strongly doubt that this is a principle applied in all municipalities, and provincial and federal departments (how many authorities for such a small population, when you think about it!).
Michel Baillargeon
Consider income
I own a triplex that has obviously increased in value and my taxes will jump. For 20 years, I have rented two 3 1/2s at a lower cost so as not to strangle my tenants! As you say, my income is stagnating! And the City doesn’t care! And yet, she cries over the high cost of rents… With my taxes, the streets of Montreal are hell! This calculation of rental income should be included in the calculation of taxes: the more income you have, the more municipal taxes you pay.
Francoise Helias
An unmanageable monster
Instead of always blaming a lack of money, should we question the effectiveness of the system? Looks like the bureaucracy has become an unmanageable monster. Before thinking about increasing taxes, we could think about cleaning up? Rethink the bureaucracy, eliminate unnecessary positions, a bit like Elon Musk, and rebuild a more efficient system.
Luc Langlois
Ideological expenses
We have to see how cities use their revenues. For five years in Montreal, we have seen orange cones grow and last forever for endless work. Some were certainly necessary and welcome, such as the repair of conduits and cycle paths (when they are well thought out, which is not always the case). But is all this money put into shrinking pavements and other floral or downright concrete arrangements necessary when the pavements themselves are in a terrible state? Not to mention that these sums could have gone to more urgent causes such as security or social housing. In short, it is clear that some expenses are purely ideological. As a citizen, if I have to pay ever higher taxes and then pay for three new tires because I had three punctures due to poorly maintained roads, that’s starting to be a lot! And let’s not talk about the city center where prohibited parking spaces are multiplying visibly. I understand the ecology, but with an aging population, do you expect 80-year-olds to cycle in the middle of winter?
Betty Cohen
Focus on efficiency
It would probably be necessary to approach the stage of rationalizing the City’s expenses as any private company would do. Failing to succeed in creating new sources of income, assets are made profitable by reducing expenses and focusing on greater efficiency. Do you sincerely believe that Valérie Plante has the skill to coordinate such a strategy?
Jean-Guy Grenier
Generous salaries
In the financing needs of the cities, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that the cities pay much higher salaries than the Quebec government for identical tasks. How to strike a better balance?
Gilles Bergeron, Saguenay
Review compensation
Any additional funding at the municipal level should be conditional on bringing the remuneration, working hours and social benefits of municipal employees to a level comparable to other employees (scales to be defined, in any case at the maximum of what is done at the provincial level ). What is currently granted to municipal employees, including police officers and firefighters, is indecent. Municipal governments have crushed unions and that is shameful.
Andre Villeneuve, Laval
Transient phenomena
Property taxes are immoral because they do not take into account the income of the owners; for people who have lost their jobs or are retired, it can be disastrous. On the other hand, the current land value increase is based on the ephemeral value of the 2020-2021 real estate boom, when home values have fallen a lot now. Inflation is also a temporary phenomenon, but property taxes will be based on these two phenomena which do not reflect reality. Raising property taxes to reflect inflation is fueling that inflation even more. The main reason cities want more money is to pay the outrageous salaries of municipal officials who will receive generous pay raises while the majority of private sector workers will have to settle for much lower raises. than the current cost of living.
Jacques Bournival