Watch: Pierrefonds-Roxboro mayor votes for higher taxes and pay increases
PIERREFONDS — It was a close vote but the outcome is clear: property taxes for home owners in the sprawling West Island borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro are on the rise.
In a narrow vote of 3-2 Monday night, with Borough Mayor Dimitrios Jim Beis breaking the tie, the borough council voted to increase taxes by two per cent beginning next year
This may not be the end to the hikes.
The city of Montreal may also increase taxes on the borough when it tables its budget later this year.
Home owners in Pierrefonds-Roxboro could be on the hook for taxes at double the rate of inflation.
Tax hikes and city councillor wage increases?
Six senior officials in the borough are also getting large pay raises.
The borough manager, the director or public works, the director of finances, the director of urban planning, the director of sports and the secretary of the borough are all expected to receive pay increases of more than seven per cent beginning next year according to councillor Justine McIntyre, who voted against the budget.
“We’re talking about the highest paid people in the borough getting the biggest increases,” she said prior to the vote.
Salaries and benefits will make up more than sixty per cent of the borough’s $35-million budget in 2015.
Budget opposition?
McIntyre gave a short preamble prior to voting, stating she opposes the budget for several reasons.
One was that she received it only days before being asked to vote on it, leaving her with little time to study its details.
She also complained that it was handed to her as a done deal: elected representatives had no input or chances to make amendments.
McIntyre argued she was being asked to vote on it as a “matter of trust” by administrators.
But at the budget meeting, Mayor Beis defended the process, arguing councillors had plenty of time to ask questions while it was being prepared.
“I know what’s involved in preparing a budget,” he said.
The $35-million budget is up one per cent compared to 2014.
The borough is also receiving an additional $1 million from the central city in the form of transfer payments.
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