Your new tax bill may sting, but not like in years past
For some boroughs, Montreal's 2018 tax increase is modest compared to previous hikes
The new administration of Valérie Plante warned there would be "a lot of pain" along with a balanced budget for 2018, and with the new tax hike announced this week, they delivered.
The average property tax for Montreal homeowners is going up by 3.3 per cent, which is more than the projected rate of inflation.
Some boroughs will pay more than others. In Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, residential taxes are increasing 5.6 per cent, and in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, 5.4.
While these numbers seem big compared to recent years, they are quite paltry if you go further back.
Example: in 2011, some tax hikes were nearly double the rate of this year.
Homeowners in the Plateau-Mont-Royal had to pay 6.8 per cent more than in 2010, and business owners 7.8 per cent more. Not to be outdone, the Southwest saw an increase of 7.3 per cent and Lachine 6 per cent.
Then-mayor Gérald Tremblay said at the time the tax increases were necessary to compensate for the city's floundering economy, along with the rising cost of public transit, police and fire services, and water infrastructure.
"The challenge that we have in the days to come is to convince our citizens that their money will be properly invested to improve the quality of life, and most of that money will be invested in public transit," Tremblay said in 2011.
Every year since, the average tax rate has increased, but at lower increments. In some boroughs, like LaSalle and Anjou, residential taxes went down some years.
The chart below shows the tax increases for each of the 19 boroughs between 2011 and 2018.
More coverage of the 2018 budget: