MONTREAL – Montreal city hall says the average property tax bill increase next year will be 2.5 per cent, about the rate of inflation, but the punishment will be hardest on boroughs run by opposition parties, an analysis of the city’s 2012 operating budget reveals. Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s administration released the $4.74-billion budget for the city and island council Wednesday morning.
Its highlights include:
• A 5.2-per-cent increase in spending over this year’s $4.7-billion operating budget.
• A net $6.9 million decrease for public transit; the total budget for public transit is $446 million.
• Virtually no increase in the special water tax introduced in 2004 to fund repairs to the city’s crumbling water network. The budget forecasts a 0.5-per-cent increase in the tax, far less than the nine-per-cent hike per year that the city’s water department recently called for to accelerate repairs and install water meters in commercial, industrial and institutional buildings on Montreal island.
• No increase in the tax on privately owned parking lots, introduced in 2010. But the city’s tax on vehicle registrations will rise, to haul in an extra $7.5 million in revenue.
• A combined $17.5-million increase in contributions from the city and the demerged island suburbs to the island council, which oversees the police and fire departments, public transit, municipal assessment and regional parks.
• Highest residential increases include Plateau Mont Royal (5.66 per cent), Anjou (5.43 per cent), Sud-Ouest/Southwest (4.88 per cent), Lachine (4.69 per cent), Outremont (4.56) and Rosemont-Petite Patrie (4.38 per cent).
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Lowest residential tax increases include Ile Bizard-Ste. Geneviève (1.01 per cent), St. Léonard (1.69 per cent) and St. Laurent (2.08 per cent).
The residential and non-residential tax hit is also highest in Plateau Mont Royal, where the borough council is made up entirely of members of Projet Montréal.
Levies on commercial, industrial and institutional properties in that borough are going up by an average of 6.58 per cent.
The province granted the city additional taxation powers in 2010, which is why the Tremblay administration introduced the parking lot tax.
The city has made no use of those powers to introduce road tolls or an amusement tax, however.
The 2012 budget is silent on such measures.
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