Local group criticizes Beaconsfield budget

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

Beaconsfield dropped the ball by not dropping taxes in its 2007 budget, according to the outgoing president of a local citizens group.

Members of the Beaconsfield Citizens Association (BCA) gave a “failing grade� to the city on its second budget since de-merging from Montreal.

“If I was a professor that’s what I would do,� said Larry McKinnon of the BCA, an organization that boasts 162 members.

Last year, Beaconsfield taxpayers were hit with increases above 30 per cent following reconstitution. Councils in the island’s 15 reconstituted cities attributed the tax upsurge to de-merger costs, inheriting Montreal’s union and unfair charges from the agglomeration council — the body responsible for regional services.

Of the lot, Beaconsfield was one of the hardest hit.

Prior to the de-merger referendum, Beaconsfield voters were told by the Sécor consulting firm to expect 14 per cent hikes in 2006.

To reverse part of last year’s inflated hikes, BCA proposed annual tax cuts of three per cent over the next five years.

However, in this year’s budget, councillor and finance committee member Karen Messier said 95 per cent of taxpayers will see a zero increase or even a small reduction on their bills.

BCA was looking for more, McKinnon said.

“They had a hard first year and they’ve done a lot of good things, but not with the budget,� McKinnon said of the council. “We’re not out to get them, we just think they could have done better.�

He said Beaconsfield could trim the city’s payroll of 92 full-time employees, cut back library hours and eliminate a few outdoor skating rinks to recoup the difference.

“These are hard choices they don’t want to make,� said McKinnon, who worked on budgets for the Town of Mount Royal as a municipal employee for 25 years.

Messier said Beaconsfield will not refund citizens for the 2006 tax increases via its local budget.

“That is just not going to happen,� she said yesterday. “As far as we’re concerned, from the Beaconsfield side, the provincial government is responsible for, in effect, overtaxing people.�

Messier said Quebec acknowledged its error when it offered to lend the difference to the city — an option Beaconsfield declined in order to avoid adding to its $17-million debt.

The city is waiting for a second, more “feasible� proposal from the province to help ease the burden on taxpayers, she said.

“People have to understand that a city’s expenses continue to rise as time goes on,� she said. “In reality, I think we’ve done a good job.�

She said she appreciates input from BCA, but in the end council writes the budget.

“I have a huge respect for (McKinnon) and what he’s doing,� said Messier, the former president of the BCA.

On Monday, McKinnon told The Chronicle he was stepping down as president for personal reasons and will be replaced by Karin Essen.