Suburban Municipality Representatives Recommend Voting Against Montreal's 2021 Budget

MONTREAL WEST, Dec. 11, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Following the unveiling of their minority report on the 2021 budget of the City and the Agglomeration of Montréal, the two mayors of the Agglomeration suburban municipalities, who are members of the Standing Committee on Finance and Administration, invite the other mayors of demerged cities to reject the budget of the Agglomeration of Montreal when it is voted on it this Friday, December 11.

"We cannot support a budget that is based on an inequitable sharing of the costs of services in the Montréal agglomeration," said Mr. Georges Bourelle, Mayor of Beaconsfield and Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance and Administration.

"The budget presented includes significant variances of $173 million in the revenue and expenditure forecasts, particularly with regard to the anticipated expenditures of the fire safety department and projected revenues from fines and penalties. Such variances fuel the concern of our cities about the true state of the City of Montréal's public finances and will ultimately affect the payment of our quotes-parts."

"It is important to understand that the City of Montréal's $207-million strategy to reduce its cash payment will put significant pressure on net debt," added Mr. Alex Bottausci, Mayor of Dollard-des-Ormeaux. "In fact, it will grow from $5.5 billion to $6.1 billion, according to budget figures. Given this context, we must firmly oppose this agglomeration budget."

"The Association of Suburban Municipalities (ASM) endorses and supports the position of its members who represent it on the Standing Committee on Finance and Administration," said Mr. Beny Masella, President of the ASM and Mayor of Montreal West. "We cannot support this budget because of the inequity that exists in the sharing of the costs of services in the Montréal agglomeration. We believe that an equitable sharing among all agglomeration cities must take into account, among other things, the true consumption of agglomeration services by each municipality."

The ASM's complete minority report on the City of Montréal's agglomeration budget is available by clicking on the following link: https://www.amb-asm.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Rapport-minoritaire-AMB-Budget-2021-Mtl.pdf. (French)

Association of Suburban Municipalities
The Association of Suburban Municipalities brings together the 15 mayors who represent all the cities linked to the metropolis on the island of Montréal, with more than 250,000 citizens, and who account for nearly one fifth of the budget of the Montreal agglomeration. These municipalities are Baie-D'Urfé, Beaconsfield, Côte-Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Dorval, L'Île-Dorval, Hampstead, Kirkland, Montréal-Est, Montreal West, Mont-Royal, Pointe-Claire, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Senneville and Westmount.

SOURCE Association of Suburban Municipalities

Information and interview requests: Simon Pierre Côté, 581 985-8774, [email protected]; Vincent Robidas, 514 795-1877, [email protected]