Montreal’s demerged cities say they’re paying too much for services – Montreal

A lot of Montreal’s demerged metropolis mayors imagine they’re paying an excessive amount of for companies they aren’t essentially getting.

Montreal West Mayor Beny Masella says he feels the demerged cities have been thrown beneath the bus.

A latest decree launched by Municipal Affairs Minister Andree Laforest states all demerged cities will bear 18 per cent of the price of companies offered by the Metropolis of Montreal despite the fact that they solely account for 12 per cent of the inhabitants.

“What we needed to have accomplished was to produce other strategies included into that,” Masella says.

“So taking into consideration person pay principals, taking into consideration inhabitants principals to guarantee that the division of the fee is extra truthful.”

Masella says billing ought to be based mostly on the quantity of public companies the 15 suburban municipalities obtain, not on property values.

These companies embrace public safety, fireplace companies, water and public transit.

Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere agrees.

“Over the past three years, all of the mayors of the demerged cities have sat down, shaped committees, and we’ve really provide you with $158M that has been evaluated and justified in companies that we had been paying an excessive amount of for. In order that I don’t perceive why no person will take a look at that,” he mentioned.

Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle agrees that this has been an ongoing drawback for years and Montreal’s incapability to barter any phrases is getting previous.

“Montreal has by no means actually needed to vary something within the current approach of the governance and the share of bills,” Bourelle says.

In an e-mail to World Information, Laforest’s workplace declined an interview due to the continuing municipal elections, however a spokesperson wrote they may proceed to hearken to stakeholders after the election on Nov. 7 and shall be open to discussing options.

The three mayors say they plan on discussing the following step within the coming weeks.