Yachts of discussion during consultation

Beaconsfield city council continued its annual tradition of publicly consulting residents on their ideas for the budget at a special meeting Monday night, but though several topics had been suggested by the administration, it was the city's relationship with its two yacht clubs that earned the most attention. "We as taxpayers seem to be supporting these private yacht clubs," said resident Chris Giller. "Are the taxpayers going to be asked to put up more money?"

Mayor David Pollock re-assured residents that public expenditures on the Lord Reading and Beaconsfield yacht clubs are not planned before 2017.

He compared the clubs' structure to that of the city's community pools, reminding residents that those, too, are operated privately but situated on land owned by the city. "(The clubs) are responsible for their ongoing, yearly expenses," Pollock said, adding that his own sons have been through Beaconsfield Yacht Club's programs for youth.

There was a minor exchange between some residents who rose to defend the clubs, and others who decried a lack of access. "I like the clubhouse, but I don't have access to the clubhouse," said Gilles Perron, adding a sign on the Beaconsfield Yacht Club's lawn reads the public is only invited from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. "The sign is nothing, ignore the sign," said Derrick Pounds, who added he has been a member of the club for 36 years, and has never paid anything other than an initiation fee to do so. He invited many who spoke against the club to come take a look.

The council itself did not speak much about what it has planned for the budget, which is expected to be adopted Dec. 21.

Pollock reiterated his position from the election campaign that he would like to focus on maintaining existing public buildings such as the Recreation Centre, Beaconsfield Library, and Centennial Hall rather than tackle new projects.

As for previously scheduled "mega-projects" such as a new library building and refrigerated outdoor skating rink, Pollock said they are not scrapped outright yet. "They're under review and I've stated in the most recent (city newsletter) that we'll most likely have a public consultation in the spring time." "There's a lot of projects that were discussed and I don't think the city has the means to do all of them," he said.

And whereas a high level of taxation for Beaconsfield residents came up again, especially highlighted by Greg Stienstra, who spoke on behalf of the Beaconsfield Citizens' Association, asking for a three per cent decrease, Pollock could not promise anything. "During the election campaign I said for people not to expect any tax reduction, but we're certainly not looking to have any increase," the mayor said.

He added there may be an increase for residents on their Montreal agglomeration tax bill if the latter island-wide governing body votes for a tax increase.

For the first time in recent history, two residents of Beaconsfield that are not employees of the city or elected officials are members of its budget committee: the BCA's interim president Larry McKinnon, as well as its treasurer Gary Wells.

Monday night, Stienstra, who had resigned from the BCA to run for council on Pollock's slate and lost in November, praised council's decision to include them on the committee. "The BCA appreciates the administration's confidence in BCA acting president Larry McKinnon and long-time member Gary Wells," he said.

McKinnon highlighted he and Wells are non-voting members of the committee, and defended the BCA's perceived closeness to Pollock during the election. "We were not an opposition party (to previous mayor Bob Benedetti)," he said. "We didn't criticize the (previous) mayor on everything," he said.

Besides Stienstra, two other members of the BCA, Gilles Perron and previous president Karin Essen, had resigned from their positions to run on Pollock's slate for council, with Essen winning a seat in District 2.