Budget 2018

To consult the 2018 Budget and the 2017 Financial Report, please click here 

A revised budget was adopted this past January 22. The average Beaconsfield property value is $571,647, according to the Agglomeration of Montreal property assessment roll submitted in September 2016, which is the second year of three.

While we were expecting a reduction of our share in the Agglomeration of about $500,000, as we had anticipated in a draft budget in December, and thanks to numerous actions taken by the demerged cities in collaboration with the City of Montreal and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy (MAMOT), we are experiencing an increase of more than $1 million in our share of the Agglomeration following the adoption of the Montreal budget by the Plante-Dorais administration. For this reason, Beaconsfield Council had to revise its December budget in order to minimize the negative impact of this decision. Council has drawn from its reserves and surpluses to keep the annual tax bill as low as possible, i.e. the February and November combined accounts, at the level of inflation estimated at 1.7% according to Statistics Canada for the period from November 2016 to November 2017.
 
The Council used $930,000 of its surpluses and reserves to present a balanced budget. The City’s overall budget rose to $44,000,601, an increase of 4.63%, compared to the previous year. It is allocated as follows:
  • Operating and financial activities: $22,573,037         4.14% increase
  • Agglomeration share: $21,427,564                            5.15% increase
 
HIGHLIGHTS
Beaconsfield’s share
  • 1.07% reduction in Beaconsfield’s local taxes for a home with an average value of $571,647
  • $1.00 increase in annual waste tariff for each bin size (12 pickups)
  • 12.56% reduction in incentive-based waste tariff (for the average bin with 240 L volume) for 19 additional pickups
  • $40 annual water rate maintained
  • 5.14% reduction in the water tax for an average consumption of 297 m3
  • 1.44% total tax decrease for Beaconsfield’s share
 
Agglomeration of Montreal share
  • 3.74% tax increase
  • 14.72% water tax increase
  • 4.06% total agglomeration tax increase
 
Combined share
  • 1.68% overall annual increase
 
The City’s budget was adopted according to the standards established by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy. The elements of the budget that seem most interesting to us for the activities we manage in Beaconsfield are listed below.
 
REVENUE - BEACONSFIELD
Increasing revenue:
  • $807,284 for the agglomeration tax
  • $305,000 of free surplus to minimize the impact of the increase in the agglomeration share
  • $230,000 more for duties on transfers of immovables (or welcome tax), for a budgeted total of $2,100,000
  • $220,000 in government subsidies
  • $75,000 from the urban forestry reserve for targeted ash tree cutting
  • $50,000 from reserves to balance the budget, for a total of $550,000
  • $83 268 for the agglomeration water tariff
 
Decreasing revenue:
  • $122,976 in local taxes
  • $76,807 for the local water tariff
 
EXPENSES – BEACONSFIELD
The budgetary expenditure categories are revised according to anticipated needs and costs. The details of the most significant changes are summarized below:
 
Revised increasing expenses:
  • $400,000 for traffic flow mitigation measures (of which 50% will be subsidized)
  • $255,000 for building maintenance and repair, including universal accessibility to the Public Works building
  • $183,000 for reimbursing debt principal and interest, and for working capital
  • $101,000 for removing a bypass lane on Angell Street
  • $83,268 for purchasing water in the agglomeration
  • $50,000 for widening Elm Avenue near the Woodland intersection
  • $42,500 for sustainable development pilot projects
  • $40,500 for cost adjustment of the Recreation Centre maintenance contract
  • $25,000 for snow removal and abrasive spreading operations
  • $24,000 for landscape improvements around the Shannon Park chalet and the Heights pool chalet
 
Revised decreasing expenses:
  • $220,000 for elections
  • $100,000 for tree inventory
  • $100,000 for sewer inspection by camera
  • $94,700 for electricity as a result of the LED street lighting conversion project
  • $80,000 for water debt with the City of Pointe-Claire expiring shortly
  • $47,000 for the treatment of ash trees. There are fewer ash trees to treat in the parks (even year) than in the streets (odd year).

 

 
THREE-YEAR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE PROGRAM (PTI)
 
The 2018 projects for the 2018-2020 PTI show the general intentions of the Council to improve municipal assets, infrastructure and various
equipment. These are investments for an estimated total amount of $15,125,000. The sources of funding will be:
 
  • $3.4M in subsidies (for infrastructure)
  • $4.3M from long-term loans (mostly for infrastructure and Recreation Centre)
  • $1.4M from the operating budget (for road work and ditch repair)
  • $3.3M from working capital funds (mostly for work on parks, shores and buildings)
  • $2.7M from reserves and surplus (of which about half is for 12 mandates relating to infrastructure as well as road work, parks and buildings)
As these projects advance, we will inform you of the most relevant details such as roads on which infrastructure-related work and repaving will take place.
  • $4,500,000   Infrastructure (water network, sewer, drainage) including a water connection project at the Recreation Centre and a mandate to develop a new Master Plan for the sewer system.
  • $1,900,000  Repaving of pavement, repair and new sidewalk, repair of ditches on various streets including the widening of Elm Street facing Sunrise, construction of a sidewalk on Westcroft Street and a reconfiguration analysis for Beaconsfield Boulevard.
  • $2,520,000  Parks and green spaces (sports fields, parks, outdoor pools, playground equipment,lake shores and various mandates).
  • $5,755,000  Buildings and others (upgrading to standard, renovations, projects and mandates), with an amount of $3.5M for extending and improving the Recreation Centre.
  • $450,000     Vehicles (replacement). Each year, we replace vehicles that have exceeded their useful service life. This sum is taken directly from our working capital and then paid back over a 5-year period.