Municipality of Pontiac 2009 budget, 2.6% tax increase
Mo Laidlaw
Mayor Eddie McCann presented the 2009 budget on 18 December 2008, and it was adopted by a majority of council. The general tax rate is up from $7.083 to $7.265 per $1000 of evaluation, or 2.6%, less than the consumer price index.
Recycling reduces cost of waste management
The increase in recycling by residents has reduced the cost of dealing with household waste, so the fee for garbage pickup goes down 12.17% (to $164.79 for the 2633 residences in the municipality). Recycling costs $25 per tonne and dumping garbage at Lachute costs $100 per tonne.
Taxes in Quyon, connected to municipal water and sewer:
The fee for water is down 10.73% ($190.05 for residences). The sewer charge decreases 1.78% ($192.01 for residences). There is also a lagoon loan repayment rate of 0.2044. In Quyon, about 323 properties have sewers and about 458 properties have municipal water supply.
Taxes for those with wells and septic systems:
For a residential property valued at $200,000, the bill, including garbage and recycling pickup and septic fee will be $1623.93. This is $14.37 more than in 2008.
Residents of Davis and Soulière will also pay a rate of 0.0501 towards paying for their paving ($100.20 on a $200,000 house), and those on Lavigne a rate of 0.0364 ($72.80 on a $200,000 house).
Tax bills over $300 may be paid in three instalments on 1 March, 30 April and 30 September 2007.
Where the money goes
Roads, public security
Public works is the largest budget item at $1.84 million, up 2.5% from 2008. This is mostly municipal road maintenance, but also includes snow removal at $484,948. In 2009, tolerance roads will be eligible for up to $4000 per km in grants for maintenance and snow removal, up from $3000 per km in 2008.
The contribution to MRC des Collines police is up 1.8% to $944,276. Fire protection is up 16.6% to $471,323, continuing the upgrade to provincial regulations. With $19,000 going to animal control, the total for public security is $1.43 million, up 6.8%.
Other departments
Administration is up 11% to $745,505.
The total public hygiene budget is down 10% to $667,582. This includes water and sewers as well as garbage and recycling.
Town planning and zoning costs are up 3.6% to $355,345. Combined with a decrease in promotion and development costs, the total planning budget is up 1.2% to $391,845.
Costs for recreational, leisure and cultural activities, which include parks, libraries and community centres are down 12.35% to $238,115.
Annual interest on loans to pay for paving, the sewage lagoon, fire trucks, grader and so on, amounts to $287,399, an increase of 81%.
Projects for 2009
Mayor Eddie McCann said that council’s priorities for 2009 include starting construction of a treatment plant for drinking water in Quyon, preparing plans for a plant to treat septic and holding tank waste alongside the sewage plant in Quyon, paving some roads and implementing an Ecocentre. Expanding the Town hall is urgent but has been delayed to try and reduce the cost.
The mayor’s personal view is that the municipality of Pontiac belongs in the region of the MRC Pontiac, not in the MRC des Collines region, and he intends to show in the coming year that being in the MRC Pontiac would reduce costs and increase service. The major payment to the MRC des Collines is for police service, at $2587 per day (less than $1 per household per day). With other MRC costs this adds up to over $3000 per day.