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Beaconsfield Mayor David Pollock: “We tried to put forth a responsible budget." (Gazette file photo)

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New Beaconsfield council unable to hold line on taxes

Increase less than in other towns, mayor says

Karen Seidman
The Gazette
Wednesday, January 27, 2010

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Beaconsfield Mayor David Pollock: “We tried to put forth a responsible budget." (Gazette file photo)

Like most other cities in the West Island, Beaconsfield residents are going to see their property taxes increase this year.

But Beaconsfield Mayor David Pollock said he has worked hard to ensure the increase isn’t as severe as in some other cities, despite hefty increases in the fees for shared public services demanded by the city of Montreal.

“Our overall increase of 4.6 per cent is lower than in some other cities,” Pollock said this week after Beaconsfield’s $39.4-million budget was adopted Monday night.

“We were able to do that due to carefully studying the budget and prioritizing expenditures.”

Pollock believes he has worked hard to deliver a budget that is fair to residents and was true to his election promises.

“We tried to put forth a responsible budget and respect the heavy taxpayer’s burden,” he said.

“But Montreal also has to be more responsible in how they charge the agglo and they have to push Quebec to include the off-island communities in sharing the cost of Montreal’s expenses.”

But Beaconsfield resident – and former mayoralty candidate – Hela Labene said this year’s budget may have new faces behind it, but it is still filled with lame excuses.

“It’s all about blaming the city of Montreal,” said Labene. “I’m not impressed at all. It’s exactly the same as in the past.”

The average valuation of a home in Beaconsfield has gone to $381,425 in 2010 from $353,495 in 2009. The property taxes paid by an average homeowner will increase by about $206 this year – all of it due to increases from the agglomeration council.

Beaconsfield itself managed to lower its tax rate to help offset the city of Montreal increase.

“Taxes are always a concern in this city,” said Pollock. “The idea was to be true to our (election) promises.”

In fact, Beaconsfield is lowering its portion of the property tax by 3.5 per cent – a drop of about $76 for the average homeowner. But the city of Montreal part has gone up by more than 13 per cent, so taxpayers will still face an overall increase of 4.6 per cent.

Pollock said one area that was trimmed down in this year’s budget was the water bill, which is down by about $163,000. The city council also decided not to take a cost-of-living increase of almost 2 per cent this year. And the city decided to cut its judicial services bill by about $60,000.

“We believe we should work out issues with our residents rather than going to court and spending on legal fees,” said Pollock, who had criticized former mayor Bob Benedetti for a legal case concerning the linking of James Shaw St. in Beaconsfield with Gérard Guindon St. in Kirkland. The case, which Beaconsfield ultimately lost, cost the city about $300,000 to fight.

Pollock said he was really pleased to have lowered fees for seniors this year. Whereas the senior discount used to kick in at age 64, it will now apply to anyone age 60 and older. And the discount will be 50 per cent for recreation and leisure activities rather than the former 25 per cent.

Pollock said the city also froze all the fees it charges associations for its fields despite a planned increase.

Other West Island residents are also facing tax hikes this year. In Dorval, residential property taxes will be up by about 3.8 per cent and the average property owner in Dollard des Ormeaux will see an average increase of 5.8 per cent in property taxes.