City promises 2025 residential tax rate below inflation

The City of Montreal is promising to keep its property tax increase for 2025 slightly below inflation at 1.8 per cent, following years of steep hikes.

Montreal executive committee chair Luc Rabouin said that keeping the increase low requires tightening spending on services such as snow removal and maintenance and repairs of city infrastructure.

However, the city was vague about which cuts will be made and did not specify the difference between residential and business tax rates.

"So today we announced the inflation, the tax increase. We did not announce the budget, so you will have to wait a couple of weeks because we will announce the budget in November," Rabouin said Thursday at a press conference.

The City of Montreal controls roughly 87 per cent of the budget, while the boroughs control the rest. Rabouin added that he expects boroughs to also keep their increases at 1.8 per cent.  

The official opposition isn't impressed by the city's latest promise.

"Just in the year before the election makes us all a little bit skeptical, if not cynical, as to why they are exactly doing that. We all know that there's an election in a year and clearly, they're trying to put lipstick on a pig, so to speak," said Alan DeSousa, the mayor of Saint-Laurent and member of opposition party Ensemble Montreal.

DeSousa noted that after seven years of steady tax increases and increased spending under Projet Montreal, it's unfair to blame the boroughs if rates go higher.

"When you talk about gymnastics, we're working very hard to ensure that all of the boroughs are trying to make sure that services to citizens are not touched," he said.

However, the details will remain unclear until the city's budget is released next month.