Municipality of Pontiac 2010 budget, small tax increase
Mo Laidlaw
Mayor Eddie McCann presented the 2010 budget of $5.6 million at the council meeting held on 19 January 2010. It was adopted unanimously by council. The general tax rate, including loan repayments, increases slightly from 0.7265 to 0.7357 per $100 of evaluation.
The average value of a residential property in Pontiac is $155,151. In 2010 this “average” house (without municipal water or sewer) is taxed $1,329 including garbage, recycling and septic fee, an increase of $31 or about 0.25 percent. If this house has municipal water and sewer the tax for 2010 is $1,677, an increase of $7. Property evaluations vary widely across the municipality, so the average may not be widely applicable. Total taxes for various evaluations are given below.
Waste management
The fee for garbage disposal remains at $164.79 for residences in the municipality. Citizens are reminded that recycling keeps costs down: recycling costs about 25% of the cost of dumping garbage at Lachute.
Taxes in Quyon, connected to municipal water and sewer:
The fee for water is up 0.73% to $191.43 for residences. The sewer charge decreases 4.87% to $179.41 for residences. There is also a lagoon loan repayment rate of 0.06877 per $100 evaluation for this sector ($68.77 on a $100,000 house).
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 inspection fee will be $1,659.07. This is $35.14 or 2% more than in 2009.
Residents of Davis and Soulière will also pay a rate of 0.00161 for their paving loan ($6.44 on a $400,000 house), and those on Lavigne a rate of 0.00407 ($16.28 on a $400,000 house).
Tax bills over $300 may be paid in three instalments on 1 March, 30 April and 30 September 2010.
Where the money goes
Increases or decreases are from last year’s budget amounts, except where noted, when the change is compared to the revised 2009 budget.
Roads, public security
Public works is the largest budget item at $1.92 million, up 4.5%. This is mostly municipal road maintenance, but includes snow removal at $482,717. In 2010, $135,000 is earmarked for tolerance roads, with $40,000 for special projects.
The contribution to MRC des Collines police is up 6.4% to $1 million. Fire protection is down 11.5% (down 28% from the revised budget) to $417,055. With $19,850 going to animal control, the total for public security is $1.44 million, up 0.52% (down 4.8% from revised budget).
Other departments
Administration is up 3.2% to $769,445 (up 0.2% from the revised budget).
The total public hygiene budget is up 43% to $952,668 (or up 21% from the revised budget). This includes water and sewers as well as garbage and recycling.
Town planning and zoning costs are up 18.6% to $421,297. Combined with a decrease in promotion and development costs, the total planning budget is up 10% to $431,297.
Costs for recreational, leisure and cultural activities, which include parks, libraries and community centres, are up 47% to $349,977.
Annual interest on loans to pay for paving, the sewage lagoon, fire trucks, grader and so on, amounts to $176,879, a decrease of 38%.
Final financial results are not yet in for 2009, but the mayor says “we are comfortable that we will have a surplus of over $300,000. We have returned this amount to the 2010 budget to keep our taxes basically even with 2009.”
Projects for 2010
Mr McCann said that council’s priorities for 2010 include constructing the treatment plant for drinking water in Quyon, paving Cedarvale, River and other roads, expanding the Town Hall, and working on the recreation centre in Quyon.
The mayor’s view is that the municipality of Pontiac belongs in the MRC Pontiac, not in the MRC des Collines. Council passed a resolution asking the ministry of municipal affairs for a study to compare costs and services for the municipality within the two MRCs. The major payment to the MRC des Collines is for police service: at $2753 per day this is less than $1 per household per day.