By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
The Municipality of Ogden has raised tax rates on industrial and commercial land, potentially dealing a crippling blow to the private seasonal campground operated by the Weir Memorial Park board.
Historically, Ogden has maintained a single tax rate for all residential, industrial and commercial property on its territory; however, this year, the municipality has raised the tax rate on commercial and industrial properties by 50 per cent, from 76 cents per $100 of assessed value to $1.14 per $100. Combined with an increase in overall property values, this would more than quadruple the park’s annual tax bill, raising it from just over $3,550 to just over $14,750, according to park board member and former Stanstead mayor Philip Dutil, who has accused the municipality of “bullying” the park board.
Ogden Mayor David Lépine, for his part, denies targeting the park, saying the tax increase on commercial property has one goal – to cushion the impact of soaring residential property values. “In Quebec, municipalities have only one real source of revenue, and that’s property taxes,” he explained. “We looked around and saw that most municipalities differentiated between residential and commercial taxes, which we weren’t doing. We have about 23 commercial enterprises and we increased their rate [without distinction]. Had we not done that, residential taxes would have increased by 11 per cent instead of 6 per cent. I’m not surprised that the [park board] feels they are being targeted… they think it’s revenge, but that’s conjecture.”
Decades of tension
Weir Memorial Park was established in 1957 by the four daughters of Robert S. Weir, a local judge who wrote the English lyrics to O Canada; the sisters gave the land to establish the park in honour of their parents, their two brothers who were killed in the First and Second World War, and all veterans. The park was not donated to the municipality; rather, it has been managed by a board made up of representatives from the Weir family, local nonprofits, the Municipality of Ogden and four surrounding municipalities (three of which now make up the consolidated Town of Stanstead). The campground was established in 1964 as a source of revenue for the park. According to Dutil and fellow board member Bill May, tensions between the city and the park board go back decades.
The city “has always wanted to control the park in some way or another,” said May, Robert Weir’s great-grandson, who has served on the park board since 2000 as the representative of the Weir family. “In 1995, we reached an agreement with the municipality where they would take over day-to-day operations. In 2003, we were asked to donate the park to the municipality, which we couldn’t do according to the deed of gift. It took us a while to get control of the park back, which we did in 2008. There have been politics going on ever since. They changed the zoning bylaws twice, in 2018 and 2022, but we have acquired rights.” In April 2023, according to Dutil, the municipality sent the board a letter saying the campground was illegal because permanent buildings weren’t authorized on the site. Two months later, the municipality sent another letter pressuring the board to shut down the campground, which welcomes 17 trailers every summer, in exchange for up to $20,000 in annual funding for the next 10 years. The board refused the offer. A third letter asking for the campground to be shut down was sent earlier this year.
Lépine said that although the campers go out of their way not to create grounds for complaint, the presence of the campground means that year-round Ogden residents can’t enjoy the park as they see fit. “We are stuck with a beautiful park on the lake with a bunch of trailers, two-thirds of whom are from all over the place – not from Ogden or Stanstead.”
Beyond the tax increase, however, Lépine appeared to put an end to speculation about further legal action, telling The Record he doesn’t plan to “waste any more time, energy or taxpayer money trying to get rid of the trailers.”
Dutil and May say they are concerned about the future of the campground in light of the tax increase. “If we are charged that much more [for taxes], we would need to find about $20,000-25,000 more,” May said. “The simplest solution would be to increase the capacity of the campground, which would defeat the interests of the mu