Average tax bill rises 1.15 per cent in City's 2008 budget

Tabling the budget, which foresees more than $36.18 million in operating expenses in 2008, compared to $34.55 million the year before, Councillor Guy Charette, who is responsible for finances on city council, noted that the increase is considerably below the 2.1 per cent national inflation rate.

Since demerger from the City of Montreal nearly two years ago, Westmount property owners have been receiving a tax bill for local services from Westmount, and a separate one for regional services from the Agglomeration of Montreal.

According to the Westmount budget, taxes for the average single-family dwelling are rising from $3,730 to $3,773, while the Agglomeration bill is going from $6,106 to $6,130. The average combined tax bill in the coming year will be $10,083. However, the City says that increases and decreases in tax bills can vary depending on new valuations for properties.

Charette said the City's most significant challenge, reflected in the budget, was managing a large debt that resulted from the merger. While the pre-merger City of Westmount carried only $2.9 million in debt, the merger forced Westmount to abandon its pay-as-you-go funding policy.

During that time, the City was also legally obliged to borrow for all its capital works projects, resulting in a $37.9 million debt. Two steps announced on Monday are being taken to diminish the impact of servicing the debt.

Westmount is consolidating various debts into one amount financed for up to 20 years at currently favourable interest rates, and the 'pay-as-you-go' fund is being rebuilt by increasing annual contributions to it from $1.5 million last year to $2 million in 2008. The debt repayment included in the 2008 budget is $5,297,600, an increase of 9.6 per cent over last year.

Next year's capital works budget is $7.45 million, an increase of 2.2 per cent over last year, when $7.3 million was allocated. Major capital works expenditures will include $2.9 million for road reconstruction and major repairs, $1.3 million for water and sewer network upgrading, $1.1 million for parks improvements, and $1.2 million for new Hydro Westmount infrastructure and equipment.

Some of the capital works projects include reconstruction of Westmount Avenue (from Belmont to The Boulevard), as well as Grove Park and Anwoth (from Mountain to Clarke), $2.2 million; rehabilitation of water mains on Westmount Avenue, Holton (from Mount Pleasant to Wood) and Greene Avenue (from Sherbrooke to de Maisonneuve), $770,000; sewer network improvement on various streets, $500,000; and upgrading of overhead and underground Hydro Westmount infrastructure, $660,000.