Brownsburg-Chatham residents, groups protest municipal taxes

Brownsburg-Chatham residents took full advantage of both question periods at the municipal council meeting last Monday, March 7, to express frustration and disappointment over several municipal affairs items.

Residents, including several members of the Citizens Action Committee of Brownsburg-Chatham (CACBC) and the Société de développement économique de Brownsburg-Chatham (SDEBC), began by questioning the necessity of the 21-per-cent tax increase announced in December.

Mayor Georges Dinel defended the 2011 budget, however, stating that about 60 per cent of the tax increase was related to the municipal deficit.

"[The municipality] spent money in the past without knowing if we had it," he said, noting 60 per cent of the increase was slated toward the deficit. "We don't want additional deficit in 2011 - not to mention that it's against the law - and therefore, we have to raise the taxes."

The municipality's deficit, as of December 2009, stood at $1.9 million.

Dinel explained the other 40 per cent of the budget was "not only to prevent the deficit from going up further, but it's also to do some needed work in the municipality."

Responding to a resident, the mayor said the increase was not related to the land consolidation policies adapted by the municipality under Bill 212. Of the land available for purchase in Brownsburg-Chatham, he said two lots were sold since 2006 or 2007 at a cost of about $150,000. As a result, $74,000 was received by the municipality and $76,000 by the SDEBC.

While Dinel said he could not be sure where the SDEBC's share was being spent, CACBC member Cynthia Dubé responded it would be used toward the revitalization of the downtown Brownsburg core.

The mayor later argued, however, that no concrete plans truly existed for the downtown's revitalization under the previous administration: "There was no plan, only the idea of a library. There was never a plan, there was nothing in it. A development plan shows construction, engineering plans, and ideas - not just three panels (at the main intersection in Brownsburg)."

Dinel later told another resident the municipality would not take any decision at this point on whether the future, potential sale of municipal land would result in a tax decrease.