Article content

Beaconsfield has hired a lawyer to evaluate legal options to recuperate millions of dollars from the Montreal Agglomeration Council. Mayor Georges Bourelle said that Beaconsfield has been paying $12 million too much for shared services.

Bourelle, who is vice-president of the agglomeration’s Standing Committee on Finance and Administration, said the $12 million surcharge works out to $600 per Beaconsfield resident. He said that the combined surcharge for the 15 demerged suburbs which form the Association of Suburban Municipalities (ASM) tops $150 million and that Montreal relies on the surcharge to balance its budget.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Beaconsfield exploring legal action to recoup $12M from Montreal Back to video

“We did sit down to negotiate with (the agglomeration) and offered solutions, but when it saw how much money it would lose, all our suggestions were rejected,” Bourelle said during an interview, Monday.

The mayor said the ASM suggested a pay-per-use equation for calculating fees for services including public transit and water management. He said using the pay-per-use calculation would reduce payments in the suburbs because the population is not as dense as in the centre city.