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2024 BUDGET

The 2023 budget was adopted on December 18, 2023. The average Beaconsfield property value is $1,033,418 after the Agglomeration of Montreal new property assessment roll was submitted in September 2022. We are therefore in the second year of the 2023-2025 role.

The Council used $1,612,500 of its surpluses and reserves to present a balanced budget. The City's overall budget rose to $59,929,638 which represents an increase of 3.74% compared to the previous year.

It is allocated as follows:

  • Operating and financial activities: $29,316,838                  4.28% increase
  • Agglomeration share:                $30,612,800                      3.23% increase
 
HIGHLIGHTS
Beaconsfield’s share
  • 87% property tax increase for residential properties
  • Annual garbage fee increases: by $10 for a 120-litre bin (total $190), $15 for a 240-litre bin (total $210), and $20 for a 360-litre bin (total $230)
  • Incentive tariff increase per lift: by $0.15 for a 120-litre bin (total $1.55), $0.20 for a 240-litre bin (total $2.40), and $0.25 for a 360-litre bin (total $3.00)
  • $40 annual water rate maintained
  • Water rate increase from $0.8136/m³ to $0.8687/m³
  • 47% total tax increase for Beaconsfield’s share - for the average home using 29 garbage collections (12 of which are included in the flat rate) and consuming 300m³ of drinking water
 
Agglomeration of Montreal share
  • 76% property tax increase
  • 29% water tax increase
  • 06% total agglomeration tax increase
 
Combined share
  • 3.57% 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:
  • $878,973 for our agglomeration share
  • $734,328 in lieu of taxes and government transfers, mainly as a result of the tax pact
  • $587,148 for the local property tax
  • $400,000 for bank interest
  • $131,373 for waste management other than selective collection
  • $120,947 for the water tax – agglomeration share
  • $109,004 for the water tax – Beaconsfield share
 
Decreasing revenue:
  • $1,280,000 to balance the budget
  • $150,000 in urban forestry to subsidize tree planting on private properties and urban forestry maintenance
  • $100,000 in infrastructure for ditch improvements and repairs, and street resurfacing
  • $50,000 in various professional services
  • $32,500 to prepare for the 2025 general election
Reserves and surpluses:
  • $1,500,000 to balance the budget
  • $200,000 in infrastructure for ditch improvements and repairs, and street resurfacing
  • $200,000 in urban forestry to subsidize tree planting on private properties and urban forestry maintenance
  • $100,000 in free surplus for the demolition of the barn at LRYC
  • $85,000 in technological innovation
  • $80,000 in various professional services

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:
  • $959,195 for our agglomeration share
  • $558,192 for salaries and fringe benefits, including an additional resource
  • $370,000 in reimbursement to the working capital fund
  • $210,000 in professional services to enhance implementation of the 2024-2026 PTI
  • $199,332 for leisure activities and the arena
  • $189,535 for the purchase and distribution of drinking water
  • $173,932 for the municipal garage and vehicle fleet management
  • $107,284 for traffic and parking management
  • $106,783 for repayment of debt in capital and interest
  • $104,440 for the disposal of dry materials, in particular for the new rules on soil traceability
  • $100,000 for resurfacing and repairing sidewalks for a total of $2,100,000, including $600,000 for ditch repairs
 
Revised decreasing expenses:
  • $300,000 for demolition of the barn
  • $254,000 for miscellaneous building maintenance
  • $162,321 for selective collection, 100% of which will be paid by Éco-Entreprise Québec as of January 1, 2025

 

To reflect the work of the City's Finance Committee, we thought it would be interesting to present a table showing the history of tax rates since 2013. The “Total” column represents the cumulative sum of annual rates and is not the compounded result of the rates. We note that the tax increase for the Beaconsfield portion is 12.68%, less than half the comparable CPI for the Montreal region of 29.7%, while the tax increase to pay for the Agglomeration's proportionate shares is 56.6%, nearly double the CPI for the same period.

Historique des taux et IPC

 

THREE-YEAR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE PROGRAM (PTI)

The 2024 projects for the 2024-2026 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 $15,960,000. The sources of funding will be:

  • $4.005 M from the working capital fund
  • $1.6 M in subsidies for various projects
  • $2.550 M from the operating budget for road work, ditch repair and building maintenance
  • $6.750 M from long-term loans
  • $1.055 M from reserves and surplus for professional services and various projects.

Click here to read more (PDF)

 
 
Mayor's text, Contact, February 2023
 

Agglomeration taxes are a complicated issue. To better understand the current problem with the quotes-parts taxation, we need to go back to an agreement signed in 2008 by all 15 demerged municipalities, the City of Montréal and the Government of Québec.

This agreement established the relative weight for each city’s sharing of agglomeration expenses which was to remain constant for future assessment roles; only new development could change the relative weight up or down. It was also agreed that a new calculation algorithm at every evaluation role would ensure that the neutrality factor be maintained.

In 2017, a transition measure was reached to accommodate a specific situation: the transfer of the Veterans Hospital located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue from federal to provincial jurisdiction, creating a distortion in establishing the real estate wealth of this city.

It was agreed that this transition measure would expire at the end of 2019 before the 2020 assessment role became official. It was also agreed that, during the 2017-2019 period, negotiations would take place to find a new, fair, and just formula to share agglomeration expenses between the demerged municipalities and the City of Montréal.

Unfortunately, the City of Montréal stonewalled the negotiations to the effect that no new agreement was signed and agreed upon by all concerned parties, including the provincial government. Most importantly, the 2008 agreement was never rescinded or annulled.

The 2008 agreement should have kicked back in for the 2020 and 2023 assessment roles and the relative weight maintained to assure neutrality, as determined in the 2008 agreement. Montréal did not do this.

By not applying the neutrality factor established in the 2008 agreement, the City of Montréal is able to reduce its share of agglomeration expenses by 122 million dollars and increase the share of the demerged municipalities by 122 million dollars for the 2020-2025 period which covers two assessment roles.

That is also why our share of agglomeration expenses will go up by 11.9% compared to 2.7% for the City of Montréal and an average of 8% for all demerged municipalities. There is no increase in services to justify such an exaggerated increase.

In Beaconsfield, the average home will pay 488.38 dollars more for agglomeration taxes in 2023. On the other hand, the local Beaconsfield taxes for the average home will go up by 94.43 dollars or 3.98% in 2023.

The real problem is the governance of the Agglomeration. The City of Montréal has 87% of the vote and demerged municipalities 13%. As a result, decisions at agglomeration council meetings are rubber-stamped. We are not consulted in the preparation of the agglomeration budgets, and we are also not consulted on decisions affecting agglomeration expenses.

An example is the decision to add 250 SPVM officers. No one ever came to the demerged municipalities to discuss this decision and the benefits for us. We just pay!

In 2019, it was established that the residents of demerged municipalities paid about 60% more than Montréal residents for the same agglomeration services. This has become worse since 2020 because the neutrality factor is no longer respected in assessment roles.

Demerged municipalities are cash cows for the City of Montréal and have no proper representation.

The Agglomeration was created by the provincial government and only the provincial government has the power to make changes.

I highly recommend to Beaconsfield residents who are unhappy and dissatisfied with the scandalous agglomeration tax increases to write to Ms. Andrée Laforest, Minister of Municipal Affairs, and copy your MNA Mr. Gregory Kelley as well as me as your Mayor.

 


 Please consult the brief and the application for judicial review filed in Superior Court and its amendments (in French only):


Request to participate in the negotiating committee on the revision of the Agglomeration of Montreal (in French only):

Letter from the Mayor - Mise à niveau de l'entente constitutive de l'Agglomération de Montréal

Letter from the Mayor - Participation au comité de négociation sur la révision de l'Agglomération de Montréal