Suburbs cautiously optimistic about agglo agreement

"They've left the status quo," said Dollard des Ormeaux Mayor Ed Janiszewski, stating he was unhappy about some advantages the City of Montreal kept through the agreement, such as taxing suburbs for downtown sector infrastructure. "We still have to pay for 'centre-ville,' " he said.

Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie admits this is still an issue. However, thanks to the establishment of a working group to explore the issue, he is optimistic that the government at least thinks there is a problem with this for some of the suburbs.

Another remaining point of contention is double billing for water taxes for some suburbs, including Pointe Claire. As Pointe Claire citizens get their water from their city's filtration plant, they should not have to pay for an additional water tax from the City of Montreal, said McMurchie.

However, due to the agglomeration charging all residents for water as well, citizens are charged about 60 cents per cubic metre rather than just the 30 Pointe Claire would charge.

The aforementioned working group will also explore the water issue, according to McMurchie.

Furthermore, each representative of the agglomeration council will receive between $10-12,000 a year for research funds, which they may allocate as they see fit, he said.

"We're only affected by 10 per cent of our consumption," Janiszewski said about double water taxing in Dollard.

Baie d'Urfé Mayor Maria Tutino was largely positive about the agreement. "(It) was a very, very important step on a lot of fronts," she remarked.

Among some of the changes she lauded were the return of arterial roads to demerged cities, the set-up of an agglomeration secretariat to allow demerged city mayors easy access to information about agglomeration projects, as well as the creation of an audit committee to verify agglomeration expenses.

"We're prepared to pay for what's really agglomeration or island-wide," Tutino said, echoing a frequently voiced concern by West Island and other demerged city mayors about being taxed for services that are 'regional' in name only.

City of Montreal spokesperson Renée Sauriol dismissed concerns that some suburban mayors are not happy with the agreement. "They will say that," she told The Chronicle, but she maintained Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay was thinking of moving forward.

Pierrefonds/Roxboro borough mayor Monique Worth said she expects tensions will ease at the agglomeration council now that there is an agreement of sorts between Montreal and the demerged cities. "We will be an agglomeration that is probably going to work together," she said, adding it was obvious the demerged cities were unhappy before.

Worth did not specify whether she felt either of the two sides had caved in too much to demands of the other. "You have to give to be able to get," she said.

One major change that all suburban mayors are happy about is that Montreal will no longer directly send property taxes to residents of demerged cities. They will instead only be billed by their respective city halls. Montreal will then collect taxes from municipal administrations instead. "This is the same way it was in the Montreal Urban Community days," McMurchie said.

"(The agreement) is good for tax bills but there's a lot more to be worked on," Janiszewski said.

The terms of the agreement will be implemented into Bill 22, a provincial piece of legislation that will appear before the National Assembly this Friday.