Pontiac Council - tax rate down on budget of $10.9 million

Mo Laidlaw

The first monthly meeting of Pontiac municipal council in 2023 was held on January 17 at 7:30 pm in the Luskville community centre.

Martial Mallet, the director of the MRC des Collines police (Sécurité publique) gave a short presentation. MRC warden Marc Carrière and Benoît Gauthier, MRC director general were also present and available to answer questions..

Bylaw 01-23 setting the tax rate and fees for services in 2023 was adopted. The rate has dropped 17% to partially offset increases in evaluation. The total budget is $10,878,590. Road work costs are up 13% ($335,955) and the share of MRC costs is up 3.3% ($78,189). Residents will receive full details later.

Council renewed the request to the Québec government to maintain bilingual status, to allow services to continue to be offered in English as well as French, as only 42% of residents have English as their mother tongue.

The Féderation québécoise des municipalités (FQM) offers legal services and advice on human resources and labour relations for $135 to $215/hour. Council mandated FQM to provide these services as required in 2023. In 2022, lawyers RPGL charged $150/hour.

Lucie St-Aubin has retired after more than 24 years working for the municipality, most recently as communications officer

The acting director general and the director of finances were awarded pay for unused vacation in 2022.

An application for a grant for firefighter training is made to the Ministry of Public Security and the MRC des Collines. 

Jean-François Duchaine was rehired as a volunteer firefighter.

Public works will snow plough and do summer maintenance on ch Royal, another private road. The municipality is reducing outside contracts where possible to reduce costs.

Council asks the CPTAQ to exclude 200 Crégheur from the farm zone, to allow a daycare.

Council authorizes combining lots at 156 and 158 ch Lilas and 11 ch Quero into two lots.

Mo’s reports: www.heritagepontiac.ca/Municipality

Municipal website: www.municipalitepontiac.com