Quebec City begins to draw on its climate reserve

Photo: Francis Vachon Archives Le Devoir The City of Quebec is withdrawing half of what it has accumulated from its climate reserve, or $45 million out of a total of $90 million.

Isabelle Porter in Quebec City

Published at 11:06 Updated at 11:38

• Quebec City

Two years after creating its “reserve” to deal with climate change, Quebec City will begin drawing on it this year to finance infrastructure projects affecting skating rinks and a waterway threatened by flooding.

The city is withdrawing half of what it has accumulated from the reserve, or $45 million out of a total of $90 million, according to budget documents presented Wednesday. In short, it injects $45 million more into the envelope but it takes out just as much.

When the reserve was created in the budget two years ago, Bruno Marchand’s administration expected it to reach $300 million in 2028.

The funds withdrawn are to be used to finance an anti-flood structure on the Lorette River (a $56 million project) and the refrigeration of outdoor skating rinks.

“Climate change is gripping us and we will not wait to act,” said the mayor of Quebec City on this subject. “We are taking part of this money to accelerate our action.”

Determined to limit the average increase in municipal taxes to 2.9% (for non-residential as well), Quebec City faced a real “headache,” said Mayor Bruno Marchand.

Last year, the increase was close to 4% for individuals and was 4.7% for businesses and industries.

With an inflation rate of 3.2% and an overall increase in expenses of 5.8%, this year it was necessary to plan for cuts in spending everywhere to get there.

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For a single-family home owner valued at $379,000, this corresponds to an annual increase of $93, with the average tax bill going from $3,255 to $3,348. A bill that will however vary considerably next year with the expected release of the new property assessment roll.

New paying powers

In front of the journalists, the general management presented a series of detailed savings, ranging from the reduction of meal costs for employees to the slowdown of lead testing operations in private pipes.

More substantial amounts also result from the reduction in the frequency of waste collection to two weeks in the winter and the elimination of 60 positions in the municipal administration (20 more than in 2024). However, on the net, the number of municipal employees continues to increase due to hiring (police officers, firefighters and mechanics, in particular).

The new powers given to cities by the Legault government also allow Quebec to generate millions through the increase in the tax rate on vacant land and the increase in the vehicle registration tax, which generates $18.8 million in revenue, the second largest source of income after the increase in property taxes ($33.6 million).

Furthermore, the agreement between the City and Éco-entreprises, which will take over management of waste collection in many municipalities, has had a major impact in terms of reducing expenses ($13.6 million).

Public safety, housing and the fight against homelessness

Meanwhile, new spending is emerging on three fronts: public safety, fighting homelessness and funding social housing. Earlier this fall, Mayor Bruno Marchand announced annual investments of $15 million to bolster police personnel and acquire equipment. These funds are intended to prevent “criminal groups” from “plaguing” the territory, the mayor recalled Wednesday.

On the homelessness front, funding for a series of initiatives in the Saint-Roch neighbourhood will amount to $4.7 million in 2025, almost double what it was two years ago. In social housing, an additional $7 million is being injected this year, for a total of $71.2 million. That’s more than last year, but slightly less than two years ago.

The city’s budget has passed the $2 billion mark this year. The debt, meanwhile, continues to fall to $1.523 billion.

In front of the media, Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand stressed that his efforts to limit tax increases had allowed citizens to save an average of $407 over three years.

With less than a year to go before the election, he nevertheless defended himself from having acted in this way to improve his popularity rating. “This budget is not electoralist,” he said. Rather, he argued, it was a matter of taking into account “the ability of citizens to pay.”

The opposition parties in Quebec City are to comment on this budget later, this Wednesday

More details will follow.