Demerged cities can expect the same from agglo tax haul

No matter the details of the Montreal agglomeration budget for 2022, which will be tabled next week, demerged West Island cities will still be used as a “cash cow” for regional spending. Local mayors have virtually no input and are not consulted before items are approved.

Montreal's mayor and 15 of its city councillors lead the agglomeration, joined by the mayors of the 14 demerged suburbs, with Dollard-des-ormeaux being accorded a second representative due to its population (more than 50,000). However, Montreal — and its mayor — hold 87 per cent of the voting power. Demerged West Island cities oppose any agglo items in vain — their combined voting share is 13 per cent.

Even if West Island mayors make a good counter-argument and some of the 15 Montreal city councillors named to the agglomeration by the Montreal mayor have a change of heart, they cannot vote No against an item at an agglomeration meeting that was already approved by Montreal's city council.

West Island mayors and the Association of Suburban Municipalities have fought an uphill battle with Montreal and the province in seeking an equitable sharing of agglo costs since the demergers in 2006.

Despite some adjustments and concessions over the years, it seems negotiations have yet to dampen local sentiment held by many residents that demerged suburbs are an undemocratic taxation generator for the agglomeration.

Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle, whose city has launched legal action contesting an agglomeration costing formula, said his city is holding back on tabling its own budget for 2022 until after Montreal tables the agglomeration budget on Dec. 22. On top of waiting for official word on Beaconsfield's quota share for 2022, which was $24 million this year, Bourelle noted that demerged suburbs were not consulted at all by Montreal in preparing the agglo budget.

Bourelle concedes that his city's legal challenge might only benefit suburbs that rely more on a residential tax base than those with significant commercial or industrial tax bases.

West Island taxpayers in demerged cities receive a lone annual property tax bill and local cities are making sure their residents know how much is to pay for local services and what amount is destined for agglo coffers.

It's a long-shot suggestion, but maybe the agglomeration can be improved and overhauled by decentralizing power to Montreal's boroughs and giving them more control over local services and projects, similar to the authority demerged cities hold. If given similar footing to demerged cities, the boroughs could be better represented on the agglomeration council. Regional matters could be tabled and approved in a more democratic fashion with some input from demerged cities, which combined would still have a minority of voting power. But at least items wouldn't be rubber-stamped by Montreal ahead of agglo meetings.

Perhaps agglo voting powers for demerged cities should be based on population as well as a city's financial contributions.

For instance, Dorval has a population of around 20,000 but due to its vast commercial and industrial tax base, the city expects to pay an agglo quota share of about $77.8 million in 2022.

That's a lot of coin considering the mayors of demerged suburbs have virtually no input on how the agglo spends the tax haul collected from West Island cities.