Overpayment of Agglomeration proportionate shares - Beaconsfield is now claiming 4 million dollars from the City of Montreal Français
BEACONSFIELD, QC, Dec. 16, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Mayor Georges Bourelle and the members of Municipal Council are doubling Beaconsfield's original claim and are now demanding that the City of Montreal repay 4 million dollars for taxes paid in excess to the Agglomeration in 2020 and 2021 due to an error in the algorithm to calculate the proportionate shares for regional services.
"We have spent this past year trying to have the omission of the neutrality coefficient corrected, by providing evidence and making appropriate representations to the provincial government and the City of Montreal. This error has cost us an additional two million dollars for absolutely nothing in 2020. The same error will reoccur in 2021," says Mayor Georges Bourelle, denouncing this situation.
Agglomeration services include regional services rendered by Montreal for the entire island, including police and fire services, drinking water and waste water management, waste treatment and public transit.
Mayor Bourelle points out that the cities linked with Montreal have no decisional power nor influence regarding these services and their costs which are solely controlled by Montreal.
At the beginning of the year, the administration had mandated lawyer Marc-André LeChasseur of Bélanger Sauvé Law Firm, a renowned expert in municipal law in Canada, to evaluate procedural options. With the claim to double in 2021, the City is now retaining the services of litigation experts Jacques Jeansonne and Jean-François Towner of Jeansonne Law Firm.
With approximately 4 million dollars to reclaim, and considering the risk that this over-invoicing will be repeated every year, the mayor and the members of Municipal Council believe that all necessary actions must be taken to protect the citizens' rights against this injustice. The professional fees for recuperating these millions will be less than $100,000.
"We have made all the appropriate political and administrative representations over the last twelve months in order to avoid having to go to court. We will continue to do so. However, we will also act to protect and enforce respect of our rights," concludes Mayor Bourelle.
SOURCE City of Beaconsfield
Mayor's Office, [email protected], beaconsfield.ca
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