Westmount mayor blames Montreal for 3% property tax hike

It's Westmount's turn to feel the tax burn. 

The demerged city has announced a three per cent property tax hike, which translates to an extra of about $394 for the average homeowner.

Last week, Mayor Christina Smith said the city would have to go back to the books after Montreal's administration tabled its first budget, which asked more from its demerged cities than expected. 

• Demerged municipalities, hurt by high tax increases, want Plante to revisit budget
• Property taxes jump in Valérie Plante's 1st budget

Municipalities on the island like Westmount, Côte-Saint-Luc and Montreal West pay Montreal for services including public transit, police, fire and water.

Westmount will have to pay the city of Montreal 6.7 per cent more this year than the one before.

Smith said last week that Westmount's own budget, which had already been drafted, had only accounted for an increase matching the inflation rate.

How Westmount fits in

She and the mayors of other demerged cities have asked that Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante revisit her budget, but Plante says the city has to pay for significant water infrastructure upgrades as well as an increased allowance to public security.

"Investing in water is important, I get that," Smith said at Westmount's council meeting Thursday evening. "Public transit, we get that. But there's got to be a way to do it without this type of spending increase."

Patrick Barnard, a Westmount resident who was at the council meeting, says be believes his municipality should pay more.

"It needs to pay for infrastructure work. It needs to pay so that Sainte-Catherine [Street] is fixed — not in four years, but in two or one."

According to a June 2016 report in Canadian Real Estate Wealth Magazine, the median price for a home in Westmount is $1.8 million. That compares to a $252,450 median price for homes in the whole province.