(Quebec) The mayor of Quebec presented his last budget on Wednesday before the next elections, ensuring that his city is in “extraordinary financial position”. His decision to draw for the first time from a reserve dedicated to climate change to pay for refrigerated ice rinks, however, surprised the opposition.
Posted at 3:12 p.m.
“The house is in great order. The house is clean,” summarized Bruno Marchand while presenting the fourth budget since his election in November 2021.
The total budget of the City of Quebec increased by 5.8%, exceeding the two billion dollar mark. The City will increase owners’ property tax bills by an average of 2.9%, below inflation (3.2%). The debt of 1.53 billion will also be reduced by a humble 5 million, according to forecasts.
“We manage money with the greatest rigor,” assured the mayor, who nevertheless admitted that 36 positions will be added next year in the municipal apparatus, not counting police officers and firefighters.
Mayor Marchand also welcomes significant investments in social housing – 71 million in 2025 compared to 24 in 2022 –, homelessness, 7 million compared to 2.2 million in 2023 and public security.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand
In fact, 51 more police officers and 36 firefighters will be added to Quebec next year. Other numbers will be added in 2026. In two years, the police force will increase by 10%. “We will not let gangs plague the city,” said Mr. Marchand.
Quebec digs into its climate reserve
But to complete this budget, the Marchand administration decided to dip for the first time into the climate reserve that it created in 2023. The mayor had said he wanted to patiently collect 300 million in this fund designed to adapt the city to the vagaries of the climate .
45 million will be taken from the reserve, to pay for part of the anti-flood wall on the Lorette River and the program to build covered and refrigerated ice rinks.
“It seems early to me to dig into this,” reacted the leader of the official opposition, Claude Villeneuve, who considers that it is “reckless and electoralist”.
According to him, it is entirely logical that the climate reserve serves the Lorette River, which caused major floods in 2005 and 2013. However, it is “cynical and populist” to rely on it for indoor ice rinks.
“I went to defend this fund on Radio X,” says Claude Villeneuve. We need it, we have basements that are flooding. Well, Bruno Marchand is going to dip into this fund for indoor ice rinks. It seems frivolous to us. »
The Marchand administration had already announced its intention to install covered and refrigerated ice rinks in all boroughs. The first, built in Victoria Park, in Lower Town, is due to be inaugurated in January. A second should see the light of day next year.
“Adapting to climate change is not just about repairing pipes,” defended the mayor of Quebec. Mr. Marchand says he wants to offer his citizens better access to sports and physical activities in a context where freeze-thaw periods increase in winter.
“For a long time we were the only town around without a covered refrigerated ice rink, notes the mayor. The Stoneham skating rink is full, people from Quebec are being turned away because there is no room. And you will see the BLEU-BLANC-ROUGE ice rink that we will inaugurate soon, you will see, it will be full. »
The leader of the official opposition also accused the Marchand administration of raising a host of rates to be able to keep the property tax rate below inflation. “I believe that we are hiding the real bill on the citizen,” notes Claude Villeneuve.
In particular, Quebec City will be able to count on additional revenues of 18.8 million in 2025 from registration taxes. Remember that registering a vehicle in Quebec City will cost $60 more starting in January 2025.
