JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1510 West

One of the reasons homeowners in Pierrefonds-Roxboro will see the largest percentage increase in municipal taxes next year compared with property owners in other areas of Montreal is that residential properties in the West Island borough have increased at a higher rate than the Montreal average, according to borough Mayor Jim Beis.

In fact, property values in Pierrefonds-Roxboro have jumped 40.8 per cent from 2020 to 2023, 9.4 points higher than the Montreal average.

The impact is a 4.4-per-cent tax increase next year, according to Montreal’s $7.28-billion budget unveiled last week.

This translates into the owners of an average house in Pierrefonds-Roxboro, valued at about $620,000, having to pay $165 more in taxes next year.

Another reason for the tax increase, Beis added, is the hike in spending by the Plante administration.

“They have been spending non-stop since the seven years that they’ve been there,” he said, referring to Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante’s Projet Montréal government, adding that any increase in taxes by the city has “an impact to the residents in my community.”

Meanwhile, homeowners in Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève will see the second-largest percentage tax increase of all the Montreal boroughs – 3.5 per cent.

Property values in Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève saw a 33.3-per-cent increase between 2020 and 2023, 1.9 points higher than the city average.

That means the owner of an average house in the borough, valued at $686,000, will pay $167 more in taxes next year compared with 2024.

Mayor Doug Hurley said that the property tax increase, while unfortunate, was “understandable” for his borough.

“Of all the 19 boroughs in Montreal, we are basically the only one with the smallest population and the vast majority of our tax base is residential,” Hurley said in an interview.

“We have very little commercial or industrial (properties),” he added. “We have a preference for parks and greenery. So, unfortunately, the borough has to put up with different increases.”

Non-residential commercial properties in Pierrefonds-Roxboro and Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève will increase by 1.7 and 1.5 per cent, respectively, slightly lower than the Montreal average of 1.9 per cent.

Beis said accepting the increase is “difficult,” adding: “Any increase in taxes, we know, has an impact on many homeowners. There are folks that, under normal circumstances, would have a difficult time paying that increase.”

Montreal’s $7.28-billion budget for 2025 represents a $290-million increase over spending this year. Since first elected in 2017, the Plante administration has seen the city’s annual budget increase by 38 per cent, or more than $2 billion.