Here are a few points from the report from the Association of Suburban Municipalities to the Commission on Finance and Administration of the City of Montreal delivered last month.

“The City of Montreal, through the president of its executive committee, officially recognized during the Agglomeration Council meeting of Nov. 29, 2022, that the existing system of assessed contributions for the Agglomeration de Montréal had reached its limit. Unfortunately, this legitimate recognition has yet to be translated into concrete action and results.

“For more than 16 years, the (Association of Suburban Municipalities has) been lobbying the City of Montreal to achieve true tax fairness for their taxpayers, and to date, without any real response or success. We insist and remind all concerned that there is a flagrant tax injustice for the citizens of our linked metropolitan cities in the agglomeration of Montreal, and that this problem must ultimately and effectively be resolved. Such an agreement will be the cornerstone of a true agglomeration partnership.

“Now that all our cities, including Montreal, have recognized the obvious fact that the current quota system for the agglomeration of Montreal has reached its limits, productive discussions should be relaunched as soon as possible to identify and implement a new management framework for sharing agglomeration expenses.”