{"id":402,"date":"2014-12-17T17:22:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T17:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/17\/laval-no-longer-under-trusteeship\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:40:43","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:40:43","slug":"laval-no-longer-under-trusteeship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/12\/17\/laval-no-longer-under-trusteeship\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Laval no longer under trusteeship\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

De Cotis: Memo to Moreau<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

By Robert Frank<\/b>
www.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

City hall came out swinging last week, after Municipal Affairs Minister Pierre Moreau threatened to claw back a tax hike triggered by provincial cutbacks. <\/p>\n

Laval executive committee vice-chair David De Cotis told The Suburban<\/i> that Moreau\u2019s move was a high-handed attempt to undermine the municipal government that Laval citizens elected last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as we understand it, his ultimatums are illegal,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s not for him to say how Laval\u2019s mayor and city council should frame and communicate their budget. That\u2019s our responsibility. We\u2019re not under trusteeship any more. We\u2019re dumbfounded as to why, as a lawyer and a municipal expert, he would make those kinds of threats.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIn early November, the City of Laval budget was already balanced. We were about to announce a two per cent tax increase, in line with inflation,\u201d he explained. \u201cWithin days, we received word that Minister Moreau would be reducing provincial government transfers to the city by $15 million.\u201d <\/p>\n

The executive committee reviewed the budget to try to reduce the burden on taxpayers, De Cotis said. \u201cWe [scaled back] some projects and postponed others until 2016.\u201d <\/p>\n

Those cutbacks still weren\u2019t enough to hold the municipal tax increases to two per cent, he continued, \u201cso Laval Mayor Marc Demers clearly communicated that the extra 1.2 per cent was the impact [of provincial cuts].\u201d <\/p>\n

Condo owners will get a bit of a break, seeing their taxes rise only 2.2 per cent next year. The average jump in tax on single-family homes is 3.18 per cent, and non-residential commercial properties will face a 3.2 per cent hike in 2015. <\/p>\n

Moreau suggested that Demers was \u201ctaking people for morons\u201d by blaming Quebec City and that Laval should instead dig into its budget surpluses which, during the past two years, let it freeze city taxes at 2012 levels.<\/p>\n

Looking only at the operating budget is misleading, De Cotis countered.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe city still has a pension fund shortfall of about $275 million,\u201d he reminded, \u201cas well as a gross debt of about $700 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
He added that some of the surplus is earmarked for long-awaited improvements. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe $117 million surplus is Laval taxpayers\u2019 money that hasn\u2019t yet been used to restore infrastructure, renovate arenas, and invest in projects for the city like Place Bell, the Grande biblioth\u00e8que and the aquatic centre,\u201d De Cotis asserted. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe province is punishing success and rewarding failure,\u201d he contended, referring to Standard & Poors\u2019 ringing endorsement last week of the Laval financial self-discipline (see accompanying report<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Minister Moreau wants to run for mayor in 2017, he can put his name on the ballot,\u201d De Cotis concluded. \u201cOtherwise, it\u2019s up to city council to decide how the budget is to be adopted.\u201d <\/p>\n

Municipal opposition party Action Laval sided with the Liberal government during last week\u2019s city council meeting. <\/p>\n

Opposition leader Jean-Claude Gob\u00e9 claimed that the city has room to cut back, alleging that city hall had created the equivalent of 90 new permanent positions in the municipal administration, including several new directors and executives. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis budget is particularly characterized by the bureaucratization of the administration. The heaviness of the administration is not a guarantee of efficiency and Laval residents are going to pay the price,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cCitizens are entitled to expect more rigorous control from the municipal administration.\u201d
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De Cotis: Memo to Moreau By Robert Frankwww.thesuburban.com City hall came out swinging last week, after Municipal Affairs Minister Pierre Moreau threatened to claw back a tax hike triggered by provincial cutbacks. Laval executive committee vice-chair David De Cotis told The Suburban that Moreau\u2019s move was a high-handed attempt to undermine the municipal government that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Laval no longer under trusteeship\u2019 - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/12\/17\/laval-no-longer-under-trusteeship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Laval no longer under trusteeship\u2019 - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"De Cotis: Memo to Moreau By Robert Frankwww.thesuburban.com City hall came out swinging last week, after Municipal Affairs Minister Pierre Moreau threatened to claw back a tax hike triggered by provincial cutbacks. 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