I note that we paid property tax “towards the 2024 municipal debt.” However, the administration does not appear to have used this money to pay off the debt in 2024.
You paid off the municipal debt in 2024 using your property taxes
When I look at my 2024 tax bill, I see a line item called “2024 DEBT SERVICE” for a total of $1,384.53 out of a total of $13,148.65. In other words, 10.5% of my total tax bill goes toward paying off municipal debt.
As a citizen, you have therefore paid the special DEBT SERVICE tax of 0.2100 on the $100 municipal assessment of your property in North Hatley.
The municipality does not appear to have repaid the municipal debt in 2024
However, the municipal administration only reimbursed $61,337, as specified by the municipality itself in its partisan municipal newsletter dated September 6. Compared to all previous years, the reimbursement was approximately $600,000 per year, except in 2024.
Reference: Municipal bulletin dated Saturday, September 6.
Year | Municipal debt | Debt repayment | Budget surplus |
| 2016 | 8 728 905 $ | ||
| 2017 | 8 056 880 $ | 672 025 $ | 212 007 $ |
| 2018 | 7 654 149 $ | 402 731 $ | 249 532 $ |
| 2019 | 6 909 760 $ | 744 389 $ | -278 679 $ |
| 2020 | 6 235 162 $ | 674 598 $ | 42 162 $ |
| 2021 | 5 494 778 $ | 740 384 $ | 280 331 $ |
| 2022 | 4 726 395 $ | 768 383 $ | 167 740 $ |
| 2023 | 4 043 170 $ | 683 225 $ | 40 505 $ |
| 2024 | 3 981 833 $ | 61 337 $ | 202 267 $ |
| 2025 | 4 043 170 $ | 985 873 $ | inconnu |
Reference: Calculation of debt repayment amounts for the year 2024.
Where did the money used to pay off the municipal debt go?
According to my analysis, the municipal administration of North Hatley did not repay the debt despite collecting money through a “DEBT SERVICE” tax from citizens in the amount of $0.2100 per $100 of assessed value. So where did this money go?
Conclusion
It seems inappropriate to me that the citizens of North Hatley should pay property taxes specifically to repay municipal debt when the municipality potentially uses this money for purposes other than debt repayment. Is it legal to use the money for purposes other than debt repayment? Can someone explain this to me? I am probably mistaken!
I invite you to dig into the 2024 public finances to understand where the money intended to repay the debt has gone. The only problem is that the financial reports are still nowhere to be found!
On that note, happy voting on November 2!
