Same services without increasing the special tax

During the speech Tuesday night highlighting the adoption of the 2009 budget, Mayor Trudel gave a rundown of the present situation: “With respect to revenues, Verdun’s initial allotment for 2009 was set at $3,472,900. As for operating expenses, the City is granting it an amount of $34,131,600, which is insufficient to meet our expense estimates totalling $35,775,900. In order to offer the same proximity services, we must therefore maintain the special tax in addition to drawing $316,000.00 from our accumulated surpluses”, explained the Mayor.

It must also be noted that within the budgeted allotment granted by the City, the Borough is benefiting from an amount of $957,000 from the development fund as well as an amount of $138,200 from the upgrading fund to partly cover the additional costs of snow clearance and library costs. And finally, an amount of $47,900 will come from the libraries’ consolidation plan.

By including the amounts from the surpluses and the special tax, the Borough’s revenues will total $35,775,900 – representing a difference of $1,644,300 compared to the initial allotment which was $34,131,600. “Consequently, there is always a significant discrepancy between what we receive from Montreal and our actual needs for our operating budget,” Mayor Trudel pointed out.

The Mayor added that the Borough will continue to take responsible and rigorous measures in order for it to maintain the overall tax burden at a responsible level without diminishing the quality of life of Verdunites. In spite of the Ville de Montreal’s budget deficit, officials have decided to maintain – and in some cases improve - services to residents. This is why our young and not-so-young people will no doubt be happy to learn that the Borough’s skating rinks will continue to operate during the next season. Readers will recall that the closing of certain skating rinks last year made several residents angry.

According to Mayor Trudel, it takes an equilibrist to draw up the Borough’s annual budget. The Ville de Montreal has frozen the amount of money budgeted for the Boroughs in order to wipe out its deficit. The 2009 budget therefore presents challenges which are even more difficult to face within the framework of maintaining the same level of services to residents.

The Ville de Montreal has imposed workforce reductions on Boroughs; consequently, our Borough has been ordered, since 2007, to cut its workforce based on the target figure of 25.8 persons per year. “With the 2009 budget, we have achieved a workforce reduction of 24.0 persons a year. We will therefore have to make a final cutback of 1.8 persons a year in 2010”, Mayor Trudel added.

For the third time in three years, Mayor Claude Trudel made a point of stressing the “urgent need for the Quebec government to review all municipal taxation by recognising the status of Montreal: as the economic, social and cultural metropolis of Quebec.”