Plante administration defends budget despite $7 billion in spending

Mayor Valerie Plante and her team expect to spend nearly $7 billion in 2024. The city says it's about protecting services.

A day after the budget was tabled, many within the economic community say the city needs to take a hard look at its expenses.

"It can either take a look at its expenditure or just pass the bill to everyone in the city. They chose the latter, unfortunately," said Renaud Brossard, from Montreal's Economic Institute.

Both Montreal's Chamber of Commerce and the Montreal Economic Institute are not happy with the latest budget, especially because Montreal plans to hire 400 employees next year.

"That's 400 extra people that are going to be on the payroll year after year after year and Montrealers are going to have to pay for," said Brossard.

The Quebec Landlords Association says the budget is a nightmare for property owners. Lawyer Melissa Lemieux says landlords can pass the tax hike to their tenants.

"The increase in taxes will unfortunately not only be a nightmare for homeowners, but also for renters because they're the ones who are going to receive the tax increase," said Lemieux.

The Plante administration is defending its budget.

Lachine borough mayor Maja Vodanovic says many of the 400 hires, like police officers, will be subsidized by Quebec.

"We've cut back on certain things and certain things we can't cut back," said Vodanovic, who is a member of Montreal's executive committee. "We can't stop picking up garbage, we can't stop doing snow removal. Even if it costs more."

She says inflation has hit the city hard, and that means paying more for contracts.

"Most of our contracts are sometimes 30 per cent higher, 40 per cent higher," Vodanovic said. "Everything is higher."