The City of Montreal's consolidated financial report for 2017 has been filed and it shows the city ran a $139.5 million surplus for last year.
The official opposition at City Hall is now asking: why were property taxes increased by an average of 3.3 per cent across the city, well above the rate of inflation?
"This important surplus not only shows that the former administration left Montreal in excellent financial health, but also that Mayor Plante knew full well that the city was heading for a surplus when she prepared her budget for 2018," opposition leader Lionel Perez said in a statement.
Valerie Plante said during her campaign for the mayoralty last fall she would not increase taxes above the rate of inflation. When she broke her promise, she cited a budget shortfall of $358 million that needed to be addressed with added revenue.
Her opponents at City Hall now say the tax hike makes no sense.
"Either these people have lied to us brazenly, or they are incompetent and they do not know what they are talking about. When you think they are managing a municipal budget over $5 billion, there is something to worry about," Perez challenged.
City councillor with Plante's Projet Montreal party, Craig Sauve, has responded to similar queries from some Montrealers in a message board on the website Reddit.
"The surplus number is the annual statement from 2017," he said. The [$358 million] operations deficit is with regards to a huge hole in 2018 projections. We will be using the 2017 surplus to balance 2018 budget."