By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Dunham mayor Pierre Janecek and director general Francis Bergeron presented the municipality’s budget and infrastructure plan during a Dec. 16 council meeting. The budget includes a 4.9 per cent property tax hike per $100 of assessed value for residential, agricultural and forested properties and a hike of nearly 10 per cent for industrial and non-residential buildings, and 21 per cent increase in the levy to cover road work on Chemin Noiseux and Chemin Selby. The town presented a balanced budget of $8.45 million.

The average single-family home will see a tax increase of 3.93 per cent in the village sector, 4.04 per cent in the Lac-Selby sector and 4.38 per cent for homes not connected to the town’s water and sewage network. Most service fees will also go up, with a $10 increase in the septic tank emptying fee and increases in the sewage network maintenance levy (an increase of $12.85 or 3.28 per cent in Lac-Selby and 32 cents or 0.12 per cent in the village).

“On our end, costs for everything are rising, so we’re stuck sometimes [with having to impose a tax increase],” Janecek said. He cited increases in the fees the town paid to the MRC Brome-Missisquoi, the Sûreté du Québec, the Cowansville municipal court, the SPA Brome-Missisquoi and insurance providers as among the reasons for rising expenses.  Revenues, Bergeron noted “are practically not going up at all,” with only seven new housing units added to the tax roll in the past year.

According to the presentation prepared by town officials, for every dollar of property tax revenue, $0.18 funds road work, $0.13 funds the municipal administration, $0.09 funds snow removal, $0.09 funds debt repayment, $0.08 funds the police, $0.08 funds the fire department and public safety, $0.07 waste management, $0.06 water and sewage, $0.06 urban planning, $0.05 the clerk’s office and $0.03 other allocations.

The three-year infrastructure plan was also presented. Major projects in 2025 include the construction and fitting-out of a new fire station (7.949 million) for which the call for tenders process began last week, new washrooms at Parc de l’Envol cybersecurity upgrades and a new cloud-based online system for handling citizens’ requests ($34,000), connecting the town hall and library to the water network ($25,000, intended to make it easier to use the two buildings as emergency management hubs), upgrades to walking trails ($125,000) and new sanitary facilities at Parc de l’Envol ($250,000). The town also plans to invest $1 million in road work, of which $900,000 will be covered by provincial grants.  

The BCN contacted Janecek and the Ville de Dunham to schedule a follow-up interview but did not receive a response before the holidays.