Ex-mayor chides Brownsburg-Chatham council on deficit accusations, 'special tax'

The former mayor of Brownsburg-Chatham, Lise Bourgault, is challenging the current municipal council and mayor over their claims of a $1.9-million deficit allegedly created under her administration, as well as a loan of the same amount that citizens will be asked to pay for with a "special tax."

"I have relinquished all political aspirations and now can speak as a private citizen and ratepayer," Bourgault wrote in a letter circulated to media and the municipality's residents last week.

"However, I also speak as a former mayor, not only because this presumed deficit has been attributed to the administration I directed for six years, but also because our citizens have the right to know the truth."

In a conversation with The Review on Monday, August 30, Bourgault decried a "special tax" of nine cents per $100 evaluation, which she said citizens will have to repay over a five-year period, as well as the "fashion in which I have been accused."

She said she used Access to Information requests to "find all the budget documents that served to prepare the 2009 budget," adding that her administration planned for a $140,000 surplus as of its last budget update on October 30, 2009.

Bourgault highlighted seven instances, outlined in the letter as the figures behind the deficit, which she said are results of decisions made between November 2 and the end of December.

Land consolidation in the German sector and reduction of the asset base, $1,220,361: Years ago, Bourgault writes, investors from Germany purchased properties near Pine Hill and divided them into lots to be resold; future property owners then neglected to pay their taxes, and the municipality was not able to seize their properties as they were "impossible to trace."

The Quebec National Assembly approved Bill 212, to allow the transfer of ownership of such lots to municipalities like Brownsburg-Chatham, Lachute, and Wentworth-Nord. The bill allowed for non-profit corporations - in this case the Société de développement économique de Brownsburg-Chatham (SDEBC) - to manage and resell these lots, which Bourgault said are assets valued at nearly $3 million, on behalf of the municipality.

"The current administration chose to end this agreement and place the amount of taxes receivable on the books," Bourgault writes. "This means a deficit of $370,361 for 2008 and $850,000 (as we had estimated) for 2009. This tactic not only penalized citizens who had already paid for these lots, it ignored the work of three municipalities and their legal and accounting experts, and disregarded the decision of the National Assembly."

In a phone interview with The Review, she added: "The [current administration] re-billed these properties to say they have a deficit. I don't think the citizens of Brownsburg-Chatham have the right to be taxed again, as one day these lots will be sold and the taxes will be repaid."

Asked about the difficulty of selling the properties, Bourgault replied, "It's certain that you have to be aggressive, but I think [the council] wants to abandon the SDEBC. They had a mandate to sell these lots, bring back the money, and invest it in the downtown. The citizens of Brownsburg are interested in the development of their town."

To that effect, she said she has currently collected 75 signatures from residents on a petition opposing the proposed loan bylaw.

Severance premium for eliminating the position of recreation operations director (camping), $60,000: The layoff of the recreation operations director, the day after the election, resulted in a severance premium of $60,000, according to Bourgault. The employee was eventually rehired in 2010, she noted, with a pay increase of $25,000, but the severance had already been paid.

Royalty fees from the campground that are not on the books, $100,000: Year-end results from "a record year" at the municipal campground meant the municipality was owed royalty fees of $187,125, the former mayor states.

"However, the amount in the municipal books is noted as $87,125. The $100,000 difference remains in the campground working fund, although the campground does not require this money."

A supposedly confidential agreement with M. Michel Guilbault, $118,000: Michel Guilbault, owner of the Resto-Bar Le Sportif in the former O'Brien building, asked the municipality for $100,000 in compensation after the former administration expropriated the building. The municipality offered $25,000 as "the business was often closed and M. Guilbault had no documentary evidence to prove his claim," and the issue eventually went to a provincial administrative tribunal.

"As soon as he was in office, the new mayor wanted to economize by eliminating the need for a lawyer and decided to settle the matter himself," Bourgault wrote. "He gave M. Guilbault over $100,000, plus grants of land."

Dinel told The Review this past April, however, that in order to reach an "amicable" agreement of about $35,000 to $40,000 between the two parties, the case would have taken six days of court time. The municipality's lawyer informed staff of its responsibility for court costs, including both parties' lawyers, witnesses, and evaluators, in the case of an expropriation settlement.

"We preferred to settle out of court because, I can assure you, there would have been at least $50,000 in lawyer's fees," the mayor told residents in attendance at the public meeting in April. "We were advised that the cost of an out-of-court settlement was better than any outcome we could expect in court."

Unrealized land sale, $200,000: According to the former mayor, the municipality had negotiated the sale of lots in the Vieux-Verger sector with a real estate promoter for $200,000. "The two parties were ready to go to the notary," she wrote. "Today we can see that the agreement is not in the account books for 2009. Did the promoter decide to pull out?"

Share of costs for the construction of the Belvedere Tower, $140,000: Brownsburg-Chatham's investment of $140,000 for the Hydro-Québec Belvedere Tower, located at the Centrale de Carillon on the banks of the Ottawa River, came from a reserve and did not affect the city's budget, according to Bourgault.

"However, this entry has now been moved to the general account and the expenditure has been charged to the taxpayers."

Signage inventory, $53,000: The former mayor writes, "In 2009, the municipality had a signage inventory worth approximately $53,000," consisting of the indicators, cone markers, lighted signs and other road signs used mostly for road work.

"Expenses under this item rarely exceed $8,000 per year," she continued. "The presentation of the 2010 budget shows an inventory of $0. Is it possible that a city the size of Brownsburg-Chatham has no road signage whatsoever? Where did the $53,000 go?"

Bourgault concluded the letter by saying the seven figures amounts to the $1.9 million deficit that the current council has made reference to, while insisting the municipality's finances "are healthy."

The Review contacted Mayor Georges Dinel for comment and although he replied by e-mail saying he would phone the newspaper at the beginning of the week, there was no response as of press time.

In announcing the $1.9-million deficit at a council meeting in February, however, Dinel told residents in attendance, "I'm not suggesting there was fraud, but the municipality perhaps spent too much when we shouldn't have."