At least one Montreal borough doesn't like changes the city has made to the way parking tickets are issued.

A private company has been contracted to issue tickets in four boroughs, and that might mean citizens in those boroughs will have to pay more.

That’s the theory posed by Ile Bizard–Sainte Genevieve Mayor Normand Marinacci.

“Our fear now with this new arrangement, this new contract, is that this company, of course, will try to issue tickets as much as possible to justify their contract,” he said.

Ile Bizard–Sainte Genevieve is one of four boroughs affected; changes have already been made in Verdun and Pierrefonds and by the end of the month, Outremont will also see its security officers take a back seat to the private firm.

The changes are part of the municipal reform announced last fall in an attempt by Denis Coderre's administration to take control of some services to better harmonize and cut costs.

Marinacci said his borough had costs under control already.

“We've lowered the number of hours from our security. We went to have a new contract and a new contractor and we saved around $100,000,” he said, adding that the issue of parking tickets should have been left to the boroughs.

“It's part of this mentality of this administration in Montreal to centralize everything,” he said.

The ticket money collected will go to the central city, for which the mayor is not apologizing.

“It's the same city, it's the same pocket who's paying, so it's not a matter of jurisdiction. We are putting up together a new reform to make this city work, and as you noticed we're cutting the expenses and we're not raising the taxes,” countered Coderre.

Verdun Mayor Jean-Francois Parenteau said his borough is on board with the changes.

In a statement to CTV Montreal, Parenteau wrote:

“This change will ensure greater consistency in the management of parking across the city of Montreal without a negative impact for citizens.”

The contract with the private company will last three months – after that, the city will evaluate whether or not it will be extended.