“I hope we have come to an end of the nine per cent increases which were a feature of the forced mergers,” said Mayor Karin Marks as she reviewed the proposed budgets which are now on the city web site.

“We were able to control our own budgeting, but have no say in Montreal’s charges. They adjust their rates to impact residential tax payers because there are more such people in the suburbs. Whether it is really deliberate or not, we are collateral damage,” she added.

Westmount’s local rates will be approved at the council meeting on Monday, December 17. The 2008 operating Budget and the capital spending for the next three years will also be voted on. Agglom charges will be finalized the following Thursday.

The local residential tax rate for next year will be $0.4252 per $100 valuation, which is 6.6 per cent less than last year. However, because of the increased property valuation, it means there will be the 1.14 per cent increase.

Average tax $3,800

The average Westmount single family dwelling is valued at $887,360 and this will attract a local property tax of $3,773.

The apartment tax will drop by seven per cent to $0.5141 per $100; also due to the increased valuations, owners will pay slightly more.

The non-residential rate will be $1.6102 per $100.

Montreal will bill $0.771 per $100 for the central services for which it is responsible.

$4 billion city

The tax base of Westmount’s residential property continues to grow substantially as it enters the second of four annual adjustments; it now tops $4 billion. In addition, non-residential property is valued at $386 million.

In the proposals made available so far, $800,000 is earmarked for Park improvements, although the soccer plans are still winding their way through City Hall and the new Advisory Committee.

A $2 million reconstruction of part of Westmount Ave., including the replacement of some water mains, is planned for next year. Other road works will involve Anworth, Grove Park and York.

The budget which council is proposing to adopt totals $36 million, an increase of 4.7 per cent on this year. $27.5 million is designated for services, $5.3 million intended

for debt servicing, $2 million for Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) and $1.2 million for Metropolitan Community dues.

Employee costs are a major item, totaling $18.1 million in salaries and benefits.

Some of the departmental allocations are Public Security ($2.6 million), roads ($7.3), sports and recreation ($4.7), planning ($1) and Library ($2.3). All show increases of between two and five per cent.

The water-sewage budget falls nearly 10 percent while the solid waste allocation drops 2 per cent.

Income from non-property tax sources, include contributions from governments ($1.8 million), Library ($0.6), parking ($1.8), municipal court fines ($1.2) and property transfers ($2.3).

$55 million debt possible

Westmount, a city which once operated virtually debt-free, could face a $55 million debt by 2014, residents were told last week, as scenarios were presented at the 2008 budget’s unveiling.

Mayor Karin Marks does not expect it to necessarily reach that level. “I am confidant that we will get government grants for some capital projects,” she said. “Also we are determined to stick with restoring the pay-as-you-go system.”

The latter will make a major difference. As currently planned, it would mean the debt peaking in 2011 at about $43 million and then reducing to $15 million by 2019. Even so, this would still be more than twice the amount prior to the forced merger.

The PAYG allocation will be raised to $2 million next year and in $500,000 increments until it becomes $3 million in 2010.

Clearly Council is taking the debt challenge very seriously as it tries not to let the infrastructure deteriorate, as well as face the major responsibility of renewing the water network ($5 or $10 million more in loans for domestic meters, anyone?) and the Arena.

Local billing

Mayor Marks is hoping that 2008 will be the last time that Montreal sends tax bills for its services to Westmounters. In fact, she is disappointed that the system hasn’t already been changed.

She feels that Montreal should bill the portion it costs to each linked municipalities, who would, in turn, charge property owners as part of the local tax bills.

“The government has already made the change at the request of Longueuil and we pay our dues for the Metropolitan Community the same way, so there are precedents,” she explained.

It was an item in the changes Marks and the other suburban mayors presented to MNAs, as they considered Agglom reform, in Quebec last month.

HCP moves on renovations

The Healthy City Project is such a self-explanatory term it ought to — well, need no explanation. Unfortunately, it keeps being misunderstood.

Some want to it to be an environment group, some a debating club. The nearest description to a legal entity is as an advisory body to council — although it is better known for going the next step and starting an activity itself!

When Sally Aitken was ending her council term in 1991, she heard of a World Health Organization concept to empower local people and make them responsible for their community. It is required to be a combination of councillors, staff and citizens working in consensus with other organizations.

The Westmount version began spectacularly with legislation to prohibit use of cosmetic pesticides. It was probably the HCP’s finest moment. It is arguable that a premature death and certainly illness have been avoided by that legislation.

The population’s acceptance also led to the idling engine bylaw — also aimed at improving health. Both were pioneer Quebec laws which have since been copied across Montreal and elsewhere.

While some gentle pressuring from the HCP is the start of an initiative, it is usually the city itself which has the personnel and services to carry out their wishes. The orange battery bag collections, for instance, came about like that.

So did the electronic-waste collection, which has become a province-wide municipal waste service following our lead.



Property use

Since her council days, Aitken has wanted to increase the use of Westmount property and in recent years has lobbied for green roofs. Environment Committee chair Jenny Patton shares those ambitions, but was looking for the right way to launch it in the City.

She seems to have found that way last Thursday. I was not able to be there, but I received a string of excited calls after the HCP’s Breakfast Meeting on the ABCs of Eco Renovation.

I sense Patton and company caught the Westmount mood. Cllr. Cynthia Lulham, Planning Committee Chair, said that Council wanted to introduce LEED standards when they are available in Canada.

They are two years away according to Emmanuel Cosgrove, the speaker Patton found to present the eco-renovation concept. Not only had he converted his typical Montreal house on Park Ave., but he sits on the government committee setting the Canadian standards.

“Once again, the HCP has given Westmounters a lead in developing an awareness of a new situation,” HCP Steering Committee Chair Tom Thompson said. “This was just a start in the renovations’ field.”

• Community activist Don Wedge can be reached at calert@web.net. His columns are archived at www.westmountexaminer.com, go to Opinion.