By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
Sutton mayor Robert Benoît and director general Pascal Smith presented the 2023 budget and three-year infrastructure plan at the Dec. 13 council meeting.
City officials painted a relatively rosy picture of the town’s finances despite an uncertain overall economic situation marked by inflation, rising costs and interest rates. “This is our third budget since being elected, and we have pursued our initial objective of gradually restoring a balanced budget so as to no longer draw on the unallocated surplus to finance our current expenses,” said Benoît. “We are very satisfied with the work accomplished.”
The city expects to run a deficit of slightly over $960,000 this year, compared with $1.14 million last year. Smith noted that “further work would be conducted” in the coming year to look at different ways to “optimize” the city’s long-term debt of $10.8 million.
According to a city information document, the budget’s main aims are to maintain the current level of services to citizens, implement the family and seniors’ policy and the cultural policy, reduce utilization of the surplus and keep property tax increases down.
On the property tax front, residential, multi-unit residential and agricultural property tax rates will rise by just over 6.5 per cent, from 48.9 cents per $100 to 52.1 cents. Unused serviced land and non-residential buildings will see the largest increases, at 7.15 per cent (71.3 to 76.4 cents) and 7.24 per cent (88.3 cents to 94.7 cents) respectively. Water, sewage and septic tank fees will stay stable, with garbage collection fees decreasing slightly (from $198 to $196.30). The owner of an average single-family home in the Village sector will owe a combined $3,617.12 in property taxes, debt service and utility costs – an increase of $162.13, or 4.69 per cent, from last year; in the Mountain sector, the average homeowner will pay $3,546.90, an increase of $77.88 or 2.24 per cent. A homeowner with a house that isn’t served by the city’s water or sewage networks will owe an average of $3,160.80 – an increase of $157.45 or 5.24 per cent.
The city’s primary expenses are in transport, including road maintenance (25 per cent of the budget), public safety (16 per cent) and environmental hygiene including waste management (14 per cent), economic development (13 per cent) and administration (12 per cent). Smith noted that a large part of the security cost increase is attributed to an increase in the town’s contribution to the Sûreté du Québec, which is tied to combined property value. “Since property values went up [last year], we had to expect an increase in our Sûreté du Québec share,” Smith explained. The share the city pays to the MRC also rose by 14 per cent. “There’s a whole system that should be called into question there,” Benoit said, noting that the MRC and SQ shares paid by each municipality have no correlation with the amount of services requested or provided.
Smith noted that the municipality is reliant on taxes for 82 per cent of its income, and more than 90 per cent of tax revenue in Sutton comes from residential property taxes.
After concluding the budget presentation, Smith presented the city’s three-year infrastructure plan. Projects on Sutton’s to-do list for 2024 include major upgrades to water and sewage infrastructure on Western St. North, two culverts at the intersection of rue Réal and rue Harold and along Chemin de la Vallée-Missisquoi, long-awaited upgrades to Parc Gagné, the replacement of a bulldozer and a 12-wheeler truck and the creation of a dog park at the end of Rue des Puits – the winning project in the participatory budget poll held this fall. Smith noted that there would be no participatory budget poll in 2024. “It’s an excellent project, but it takes a lot of energy,” he said.