CHRIS LOWREY
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC Dec. 20, 2018
The 2019 budget for the Municipality of Pontiac will see residents fork over an extra 4.3 per cent in taxes.
The municipality’s tax revenue will grow from $4,944,792 in 2018 to $5,203,402 in 2019 – a boost of more than $250,000 for the municipality’s coffers.
According to Mayor Joanne Labadie, the tax increase is related to the natural disasters that have struck the region recently.
Recent flooding is partly to blame. Mainly, many people were forced to move out of their homes in flood-ravaged areas – which means fewer taxpayers. Additionally, the value of many homes dropped as a result of the flooding.
With a smaller tax base and properties that have seen their value stagnate, that meant an increase in the tax rate was necessary, according to Labadie.
To make matters worse, Labadie said the condition of the municipality’s infrastructure means that it is in need of urgent investment.
“The public made it very clear that they want some investments in our roads and infrastructure so we’ve taken that into account,” Labadie said.
Council also passed the three-year capital expenditures budget, which looks at the bigger projects facing the municipality.
Two projects that have been on the municipality’s radar for the last couple of years is securing new fire stations to replace the ones in Luskville and Quyon.
“The two fire stations in Quyon and Luskville were never built as fire stations,” Labadie said. “They’re old public works garages.”
Labadie said it’s part of a larger trend.
“We have about a 20 year infrastructure deficit in our municipality,” Labadie said. “The longer we keep putting the roadwork off, the more expensive it becomes.”
Labadie said infrastructure work is the top priority in the municipality.
The budget meeting on Dec. 20 was not without controversy.
Labadie said she received an email just after 5 p.m. on the day of the meeting from a concerned resident who questioned the legality of the meeting itself.
The concern centred around the amount of notice given to the public about the budget meeting.
The Quebec Municipal Code says that municipalities have to give at least eight days notice for council meetings.
The municipality’s social media page posted a notice about the meeting on Dec. 19 – the day before the meeting.
But according to Labadie, the municipality gave the appropriate notice to residents for the meeting.
“We have four locations that are the legal public notices for our municipality,” Labadie said. “They are the three fire stations plus our town hall.”
Some residents took to social media to debate whether the municipality is obligated to post notices eight days in advance online as well as the four legal notice locations.
Labadie said that at the next council meeting, she will present the opinion of the municipality’s legal team that the municipality’s obligations were met.
“There is no requirement to have [the notice] on social media,” Labadie said.
Labadie said the notice for the meeting would have been posted online, but the municipality is currently without a head of communications and the person who was filling in was on leave.
Some residents also complained about the meeting being located in the library instead of the usual location in the community centre. Labadie said the meeting was in the library because the community centre was being used for a blood donor clinic.
“The assertion that this was some sort of clandestine meeting is interesting because I don’t know what the purpose would be to hold such a meeting and keep it from the public,” Labadie said.
