Beware! The taxman cometh for more

It was all lies. Remember those promises of “economies of scale,� sung by the merger forces. The “bigger is better� Montreal boosters swore we would be better off united — that “one island-one city� would result in lower taxes, better services and an equality of living throughout Montreal. Those who voted to de-merge knew better, that what the mergerites were saying was bogus. Last week, Frank Zampino, Montreal’s man in charge of finance, complaining of Montreal’s “fragile financial situation,� confirmed those fears.

For months, Montreal has been singing the blues of a “spiralling structural deficit� and an enormous $394-million deficit. To bring the budget down to a zero deficit, as, by law, Quebec cities must do, Montreal is proposing a variety of cost-cutting measures — including foisting off services to other levels of government. But this still means you and I will be paying the bill. For example, Zampino wants Quebec to handle welfare and social services. Montreal is the only city in the province to handle this department. Montreal has done so since the depression. Naturally, the department’s 850 employees want no part of this. They want to remain with Montreal. The reason is simple. Municipal workers are paid more than provincial ones.

Zampino also announced he will sock it to local Montreal boroughs. Without any input from local mayors and councils, Zampino has dictated that the city’s 19 boroughs will have their local budgets frozen for 2007. This freeze will compel the boroughs to cut four percent — $34.3 million — from their spending. This hits snow removal, garbage collection and the like. What downtown Montreal — the Tremblay-Zambino tandem — is really saying is the boroughs can cut services and have the local council and mayor take the heat, or raise their local taxes to make up the difference, for which the mayor and council will still take flak. Some choice!

All of this comes on the heels of the increases in property evaluations announced last month. In fact, most boroughs that voted to stay with Montreal were hit with higher evaluation increases than those that had de-merged. Montreal boroughs Pierrefonds/Roxboro and Ile Bizard/Ste. Geneviève jumped 46 per cent and 42.3 per cent respectively. Dorval was in between at 43 per cent. However, all the other West Island cities — ones that had voted to de-merge — came in lower.

Quebec is already the ‘sugar daddy’ of all provinces when it comes to free this and that. Frozen university fees, baby bonuses, endless handouts to companies to keep them in the province, $7 nursery fees, Cadillac social services; the list goes on and on. But when something is free or dirt cheap for one group, it generally means another is picking up the tab — usually you and me. What do zero deficits, frozen budgets, and increased property evaluations translate into? Higher taxes once again — which you and I can ill-afford, given we already live in the most highly taxed jurisdiction in North America.