The Municipalité régionale du Comté (MRC) d’Argenteuil budget for 2020 has been approved.
The total revenues in 2020 equal $10,393,450, with 43.2 per cent of the MRC’s revenue coming from nine local municipalities. The amount collected by the MRC from municipalities in 2020 is increasing by 1.6 per cent over 2019. The municipalities provided $ 4,406,654 in revenue in 2019 and will provide $4,493,104 in 2020.
The 2020 increase in the municipal share is lower than for the 2019 budget, when it was 4.82 per cent.
According to an MRC news release, the remaining 56.8 per cent of the 2020 budget will come from reserves, surpluses in various funds, and grants from the Québec and federal governments. Additional funding from the Québec government is also anticipated due to the 2020-2024 fiscal pact between the provincial government and municipalities which guarantees assistance to MRC’s due to increasing responsibilities.
Property values, which include both land and buildings, totalled $4.5 billion in Argenteuil as of September 15, 2019, according to assessment figures from the Québec government. That amount is an increase of 3.12 per cent over property valuation figures from September 2018.
Québec’s MRC’s perform a similar role to county governments in Ontario. However, they also provide many services on behalf of their member municipalities that may not have the human or financial resources to provide them independently. Those services include civil engineering, information technology, mapping, and forestry.
MRC d’Argenteuil Prefect Scott Pearce and Deputy Prefect Carl Péloquin are both pleased that a balanced budget was passed unanimously by council that affirms the MRC’s commitments to sustainable development and counteracting climate change.
In 2020, the MRC has several climate change and sustainability-related projects planned. It is participating in a pilot project led by researchers at École Polytechnique in Montréal who are evaluating climate change risks. It is also continuing efforts to identify lands not considered compatible with mining activities.
The MRC will be involved with efforts during the year ahead to identify and protect natural areas of significance, including land currently owned by Hydro-Québec along Rivière Rouge that the power utility is planning to divest itself of, and lands in Lachute and Gore that those municipalities have planned to develop outdoor recreation opportunities on.
Mapping will also continue in conjunction with the neighbouring MRC Deux-Montagnes and MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges to better reflect flood zones along the Ottawa River and its tributaries.
Riverbank cleanup along the Ottawa River is also another focus of the MRC d’Argenteuil in 2020. It plans to undertake that project in partnership with the United Counties of Prescott and Russell in Ontario through the Friendship Pact between the two regional governments.
