Gatineau council approves ‘electric shock’ budget

The City of Gatineau has passed its budget.

Fifteen of 20 council members, including the 10 representatives of Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette’s Action Gatineau party, voted in favour of the $887-million budget Tuesday evening.

The budget includes the city’s largest increase in spending in the last decade, paid for by increases of 3.18 per cent in residential property tax and 4.18 per cent for the non-residential sector.

Various city rates, including for household waste, will also increase.

The budget calls for investments in homelessness, the city’s climate plan and the revival of the city centre.

Responding to urgent needs

Those investments respond to urgent needs, Marquis-Bissonnette said, especially related to the environment.

“We don’t know when the next natural disaster will come, but we know that it will come,” she said in French.

The mayor said she believes the 2025 budget makes it possible to accelerate urgent investments and reduce pressure on property taxes by diversifying the city’s sources of revenue through development fees and a tax on parking lots.

“What we are offering you is not just a sum of figures. It’s an electric shock — a structured response to our major collective challenges,” Marquis-Bissonnette said in French, adding that municipalities have a responsibility to intervene, even in less traditional areas of jurisdiction.

Homelessness and overflows

Homelessness, a topic that sparked several emotional exchanges during the budget study in November, resurfaced again Tuesday.

Gatineau plans to invest an extra $5 million in 2025 toward combating homelessness.

Rivière-Blanche Coun. Jean Lessard tried to convince his colleagues to review that amount, arguing they should instead put half the money earmarked for homelessness into resolving problems with sewage overflow into the Ottawa River.

According to Lessard, real estate development in the city’s east end is suffering due to issues with the overflow.

“I’ve been around the table [of the municipal council] for 11 years, and I’ve been hearing about projects that never came to fruition for 11 years,” he said.

Only five council members supported his motion, which came under criticism by Limbour Coun. Louis Sabourin, who is also president of Gatineau’s healthy city commission.

“I find it shocking that we are going to draw on money for the most deprived in our society who are also Gatineau residents. Why not find it in other pockets? I find it insulting,” Sabourin said.

Hull-Wright Coun. Steve Moran, who is also executive committee president, said he found it unfortunate that Lessard opposed two fundamental needs.

“Yes, we must invest in our water infrastructure,” Moran said, stressing that the city had not yet completed its analysis of the extent of overflow challenges Gatineau faces. But Moran said the city also finds itself in a homelessness crisis.

The mayor noted the city has planned $432 million over five years for water infrastructure, including water plants, maintenance and repair of networks.

That amount represents 40 per cent of the maintenance component of Gatineau’s investment plan.

“It’s OK to debate it. Everyone agrees that there is a major issue with the issue of overflows,” Marquis-Bissonnette said. “We know that we are going to have to invest more.”

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