Two Montreal boroughs plan budget jumps for new facilities

Two Montreal boroughs have adopted 2027 budgets that jump sharply from this year, in both cases because of new recreation facilities, according to documents posted by the City of Montréal.

Montréal-Nord’s operating budget for 2027 is $57,066,700, up $7,677,900 or 15.55 per cent from this year, the borough said. In Pierrefonds-Roxboro, the operating budget is $71.0 million, compared with $40.0 million in 2026. That works out to an increase of about 77.5 per cent, by Canada News Media’s calculation from the borough’s figures.

Pierrefonds-Roxboro said the jump comes mainly from the opening of its aquatic centre. Montréal-Nord attributed its increase to higher transfers from the city’s central services and the planned early-2027 opening of the Espace du Cœur-Nomade, a facility shared between boroughs that Montréal-Nord will largely operate. The borough said that service alone will account for 9.5 per cent of its budget.

The two boroughs differ sharply on what residents will pay. Pierrefonds-Roxboro, which adopted its budget at a special council sitting on Oct. 6, will raise its local tax by eight per cent, to $0.0706 per $100 of property assessment. The borough said that translates to an increase of 0.8 per cent on the overall tax bill, because the local tax is only a small part of what property owners pay. It plans to use $948,300 of accumulated surplus to balance the budget and set its 2027 investment budget at $7.1 million.

Montréal-Nord’s local tax rate for 2027 is $0.1276 per $100 of assessment, and it has indexed local fees by five per cent. Central transfers make up $41,700,700, or 73.1 per cent, of its revenue. Local tax brings in $13,725,000, which is about 24 per cent of the budget by Canada News Media’s calculation.

Because the city indexed its central transfers to the borough by four per cent, Montréal-Nord said it needs to draw only $463,200 from surplus, which it said is less than half of what it needed before.

“In Montréal-Nord, we listen to the population and we act on the issues that affect them in their daily lives,” Mayor Christine Black said in the borough’s release (translated from French).

Montréal-Nord’s 2027-2036 capital program totals $61,327,000 over 10 years, with $7,332,000 planned for 2027. The borough said the money will go toward continued work on a future aquatic complex, park upgrades, library and community-centre repairs, preliminary work on Sainte-Colette Boulevard, and paving and sidewalk repairs, including traffic-calming measures near schools.

The figures come from the boroughs’ own budget summaries on the City of Montréal’s website. Canada News Media has not independently verified them. Neither borough’s summary says how the increases compare with other boroughs, and the city’s overall 2027 budget has not been tabled in the documents reviewed.

Property values are also a factor in what Montrealers pay. Montreal’s property assessments rose 12.2 per cent on average in the latest roll. Montréal-Nord was also the subject of a public assembly on police racism allegations earlier this year.

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