“It is above all not an electoral budget”

“It is above all not an electoral budget, because we have chosen responsibility. We chose to be below 3% [de hausse de taxes]. We also chose to increase the payroll by 1%.”

— Jean Lamarche, mayor of Trois-Rivières

For a home valued at $337,000, the tax increase represents $93.61. Trois-Rivières therefore has a balanced budget of $384.4 million for the year 2025, an increase of $21.5 million compared to 2024.

These amounts are not a big surprise, since they had already been revealed in mid-November following a discussion bringing together elected officials and directors of the municipal administration.

Dany Carpentier calls for a vote

If the percentage of the tax increase was already known, the real suspense, Tuesday afternoon, in an extraordinary session at city hall, was to know if the 2025 budget would be adopted unanimously. This was almost the case: only councilor Dany Carpentier voted against.

The La-Vérendrye district councilor believes that the 2025 budget does not provide enough measures to improve the situation in terms of housing, municipal taxation and citizen participation. He would have liked an increase in the assistance provided for in the home ownership program.

“With the significant increase in values ​​on the assessment roll, it is becoming very difficult for new families, among others, to acquire a first property.”

— Dany Carpentier, La-Vérendrye district councilor

He also noted that several development projects have sparked an outcry from citizens “for lack of information or consideration.”

“Yes we end up reacting – and that’s good – but the tone of distrust is often given, and the improvisation plays on the image and reputation of our city. It would have been necessary in the budget to improve our practices […] to succeed both in the new taxation project, but also in the residential development projects to come in 2025.”

The leader of the Trois-Rivières Ville Forte party and candidate for mayor, Pascale Albernhe-Lahaie, also spoke.

“I am convinced that we can do better, that we can make your tax bill more profitable, that we can also offer more quality services to the citizens of Trois-Rivières.”

— Pascale Albernhe-Lahaie, head of Trois-Rivières Ville Forte

The Rivières district councilor deplores that the budget is prepared by the executive committee and that the needs of citizens are not sufficiently taken into account. “What I see is that this budget was designed behind closed doors by a handful of elected officials. […] For our part, we received the documents four days in advance.”

Councilor Pierre-Luc Fortin shares his opinion.

“This is not a budget that arouses enthusiasm. It is not the result of collegial work on the part of the council. […] It’s as if the cake was made and we chose the colors of the creaming towards the end.”

— Pierre-Luc Fortin, councilor of the Estacades district

Despite their reservations, they supported the budget.

“I remind my colleague Dany that in terms of social and affordable housing, there has been a lot of progress,” replied Pierre Montreuil. After his participation in the development of the budget, the Carmel district councilor considers that it is illusory to think of involving all elected officials from the first stage.

“As for citizen participation, some people around this table wear rose-colored glasses. With 15 people, preparing a budget, I don’t believe in it.”

— Pierre Montreuil, Carmel district councilor

“Effectively, the start of the budget was made by five elected officials, i.e. the executive, but taking into consideration all the recommendations that were made during the entire year. At each committee, every two weeks, there are recommendations. On these committees, there are elected officials, citizen-citizen members and citizen-citizen youth members,” added Maryse Bellemare.

The Chavigny district councilor recalled that decisions are also taken during the two days of Lac-à-l’shoulder which brings together all elected officials.

“There are not just five of us doing the budget, but fifteen people.”

— Maryse Bellemare, councilor of the Chavigny district

Mayor Jean Lamarche did not seem surprised that the budget was not adopted unanimously. “There is one person who chose to vote against the budget. […] We can clearly see that 14 out of 15 people probably understood that a budget for 15 elected officials from 14 different districts is of course a set of compromises.”

Mr. Carpentier is considering a possible candidacy for town hall. Is his decision to vote against the budget electoral?, we asked Mayor Lamarche. “I won’t answer. I’m just going to smile,” he said.

Additional expenses of 22.3 million

The City of Trois-Rivières will have to deal with additional expenses of $22.3 million in 2025. “Trois-Rivières, in full growth, must respond to needs which increase accordingly. The City’s recurring expenses, nearly 80% of which are attributed to indexation to the cost of living, constitute a challenge for preserving a balanced budget,” explains Mr. Lamarche.

The biggest share of the pie goes to the payroll which alone shows an increase of 10.5 million dollars. It goes from 133.9 to 145.6 million dollars. It represents 37.6% of the 2025 budget, compared to 36.6% in 2024.

Mayor Jean Lamarche defends this decision, being aware that it could arouse criticism. “We knew that politically someone was going to say that we increased the payroll by 1%. We’re doing it because we’ve been watching our city teams for a year. […] Working for citizens also means providing them with a healthy city team.”

The general director, François Vaillancourt, indicated that the ratio of payroll to budget remains lower than that of other large cities, citing as examples Lévis (43.5%) and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. (48.5%).

“We are by far the city that is the most frugal, the city where it invests the least in terms of its payroll, which is completely responsible, completely diligent.”

— François Vaillancourt, general manager of the City of Trois-Rivières

As for other increasing expenses, note snow removal contracts (1.4 million), residual materials (1.3 million), municipal corporations (0.5 million) and insurance (0.5 million) .

Among the additions, there are $400,000 to support the service offering of the Société de transport de Trois-Rivières, $350,000 to implement the social housing plan which includes the issues of homelessness, 100,000 dollars to improve the indoor swimming pool access program, $100,000 to increase the maintenance of ditches, 45,000 dollars to publish a second newsletter The Trifluvien and $25,000 to relight the Torch for special events.

Expenditures related to culture recorded a drop of approximately $720,000, mainly attributable to the closure of the J.-Antonio-Thompson hall for major work. “It is not a desire to cut back on culture or events,” assures Mr. Lamarche.

In terms of revenue, the vast majority is made up of property taxes, which total $230.7 million. No less than 52.93% of property taxes come from the residential category.

Lower tax rate

To minimize the impact of the increase in the value of buildings on taxpayers, the City has reduced its tax rate. It went from $1.30 to $0.83 per $100 of valuation. “It puts us back in the big city pack. We can no longer say that in Trois-Rivières, the tax rate is higher than elsewhere,” rejoices Mr. Lamarche.

Thanks to this change, a third of taxpayers will see their tax bill decrease.

In addition, the contribution of certain categories of building is increasing, such as vacant lots served as well as certain commercial and industrial buildings. Their tax strata have been adjusted in order to reduce the tax transfer to residential buildings. Small businesses, however, are not affected.

Disappearance of the swimming pool tax

As expected, the $50 tax on pool owners has been removed. It was set up to finance part of the costs of producing drinking water.

Councilor François Bélisle, who had advocated for this abolition, thanked his colleagues for this decision.

Its disappearance, however, has an impact on the water rate. “When we erase a pricing system, a method of eco-fiscality or taxation – depending on who looks at it – the amount does not disappear. Where is the money that was in the tax called swimming pool? It is found in the water rate,” says Mr. Lamarche.

No more than two payments

The Pointe-du-Lac councilor deplored that citizens still cannot pay their tax bill in more than two installments.

“In these times when tax bills are increasingly high, it is a service to the population to allow their payment to be spread over three or four installments.”

— François Bélisle, councilor for the Pointe-du-Lac district

The mayor explained that this option had been studied. “We looked at different scenarios with three or four [versements]. There are pros and cons. Among the cons are obviously the interest that we don’t get by spreading out the payments. This means that we have less revenue to provide services to citizens.”

According to Mr. Lamarche, each additional payment results in a loss of revenue of approximately $350,000 for the City.

Furthermore, the rate appearing on the tax bill of septic tank owners will be modulated according to the frequency of emptying.

Postal strike

The tax bills will be sent on January 7, 2025. They are payable in two installments, February 6 and July 7. If Canada Post is still on strike, alternatives will be announced when the holidays return.

“We are going to make tax accounts accessible through a website that we are creating. No one will receive the information late,” assures Mr. Vaillancourt.