By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
West Bolton will take a “transitional” budget into 2025, Mayor Denis Vaillancourt told the BCN in a 2024 year-end interview.
“Our biggest challenge over the past year was recruitment – we had a road work co-ordinator who went on sick leave, we had the resignation of our urban planner and our director general, but with the recruitment of Monique Pépin as interim DG and secretary-treasurer, and with help from the Fédération québécoise des municipalités, we were able to put together a [2025] budget that responded to our needs,” he said.
Vaillancourt said the average West Bolton homeowner would see their tax bill rise by about three per cent, despite a decrease in the base tax rate from 36 cents per $100 of assessed value to 37.17 cents per $100. MRC service fees and waste management fees will also rise slightly, from $34 to $36.87 and from $195.00 to $205.00 respectively. “The general tax, public safety and utility costs are things we have no control over. For example, snow removal went up by 21 per cent – there are services we need that we don’t have control over,” the mayor said.
The infrastructure plan for the coming year is centered around road repairs and renovations to the town hall. “The big projects will move forward only if we get grants,” Vaillancourt said. “We have road work [planned] on some roads that need serious repairs that we have to get done at some point.” Major projects include repairs to a number of culverts, extensive work on Chemin Stagecoach and Chemin Spicer and added signage to reflect reduced speed limits. The town also plans to conduct a septic tank inventory with a view to organizing a municipal septic tank inventory and laying the groundwork for a standardized septic waste collection system.
The current town hall is in a converted school, and it’s “very, very small” for the municipality’s present-day needs, said the mayor. Vaillancourt said no decision had yet been made on whether to build a new town hall or expand the current one. “We had a public consultation in April [2024] and we said that one of the first things we should do is make an offer on some adjacent land,” he said. “Because that land is zoned agricultural, we have to go through the Quebec agricultural protection commission. That request was sent to the MRC and we were hoping to have a response before the holidays, but our file was stuck in the mail – that should work itself out. The next step would be to apply for a grant for renovations, and we would have to have a public consultation period. Nothing is decided yet.”
Vaillancourt also said he hadn’t yet decided whether to seek a second term as mayor in this fall’s elections.