BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1510 West
Homeowners in Pointe Claire will be seeing their municipal tax bills go up again this year, with the owner of an average house having to pay 3.9 per cent more in 2024, according to the city’s $181.5-million budget adopted last month.
That means the owners of an average house – valued at $674,216 – will pay $4,221 in municipal taxes this year, an increase of $158 compared with last year. This does not include a separate rate for water, which goes up slightly this year.
The tax rate for a single-family home has been set at $0.6261 per $100 of valuation, up from last year’s rate of $0.6026.
In terms of expenses, the city will increase its spending this year by $8.3 million, which represents a 4.8-per-cent jump compared with 2023. A large portion of that – about $5 million – is attributed to increased charges from the Montreal Agglomeration for shared services, said Pointe Claire finance director Daniel Seguin during a public meeting last month when the budget was presented.
In 2024, Pointe Claire will pay a total of $85 million to the agglomeration. This represents a 6.4-per-cent hike in charges over last year. It also represents almost half – 46.8 per cent – of the city’s overall budget this year. Services provided by the agglomeration include public transit, police and water.
The latest increase in agglomeration charges is in addition to the 8.1-per-cent hike assessed last year, bringing the rise in charges from the central island authority to 17.4 per cent since 2022.
“We give our citizens more bang for their dollar than the city of Montreal,” Mayor Tim Thomas said when asked to comment on the rising agglomeration charges.
Thomas criticized the agglomeration for not providing adequate justification for the increasing bills.
“If you have to pay, we should be getting accounting,” he said. “There is no real itemized bill.”
Among expenses controlled by the municipality, the largest increases in costs come from the operational expenses for city buildings, which jump 11.7 per cent; public security, which will see a 9.1-per-cent hike; and vehicle charges, which are up 7.8 per cent.
Pointe Claire council also approved the city’s three-year capital expenditures program. The plan will see $35.4 million invested this year on various infrastructure projects, as well as the renovation of certain municipal buildings and upgrades in parks. More specifically, the city plans to carry out road work on Monterray, Milhaven and parts of Winthrop avenues, planning for the overhaul of two highway overpasses – Highway 20 and Sources Blvd., and Highway 40 and St. Jean Blvd.; the installation of a pickleball court in Northview Park and a bicycle path near Brigadoon Ave.