The official opposition and the merged cities in City Hall will vote against the 2022 budget presented by Mayor Valerie Plante and her administration.
Posted 12:44 pm
Montreal, the former party ensemble of Denis Coderre, argued that the budget submitted before the holidays overestimated the city’s revenues and ignored the spread of COVID-19. “The boat will be in the water this year,” Opposition Leader Araf Salem said.
He said the budget was not designed on a good basis. The elected official criticized the mayor and her team for not waiting to find out the actual results for that year until the end of 2021 and instead relied on financial projections.
“It’s also a budget that has not kept the promises of Project Montreal,” Mr Salem lamented, pointing to a lack of investment, especially in affordable housing.
The Leader of the Opposition continued that the 2022 budget “could be the tip of the iceberg for further unfavorable changes to Montreal, tax increases or service cuts.”
Mayor Plante responded immediately.
“Our administration’s budget will accelerate Montreal’s priorities and address the challenges posed by the pandemic context, especially in housing, climate change and security,” she said in a statement sent by her cabinet. This budget is linked to realism and population needs. ⁇
Suburban mayors opposed
The Association of Suburban Mayors (AMB) has recommended that mayors of affiliated cities vote against the budget in the Assembly.
The group rejected the principle of calculating quotas that would be detrimental to residential cities such as Beaconsfield, Montreal West or Hampstead.
“We strongly recommend not to support the adoption of our fellow mayors and mayors because they do not live up to their expectations,” said Beaconsfield Mayors and Dollard-des-Ormex, respectively. .
“The concept of tax equity among all the municipalities on the island of Montreal remains an unresolved issue, although we have repeatedly appealed to the authorities (Montreal and the government) in this regard,” they wrote. “The financial effort required for the citizens of our municipalities is huge, even though they already pay 56% more than the city of Montreal, even though they receive less services.”
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