Montreal boosts borough transfers to curb tax hikes
Posted November 25, 2025 4:50 pm.
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada’s administration is increasing central transfers to the city’s boroughs in an effort to limit municipal tax hikes and maintain services.
The city is raising the indexation rate on transfers to three per cent, up from the 1.9 per cent originally planned. With additional adjustments for special projects, the overall increase reaches 3.6 per cent.
“This is a strong gesture that we can take quickly and that will have a concrete impact on services to the population, one of our main priorities,” said Martinez Ferrada. “Through their proximity to citizens, boroughs can implement services that directly meet the needs of their community. This is excellent news for the autonomy of the boroughs to which we wanted to give a real boost, one of the most important in years.”
The change requires an extra $8.3 million in spending, bringing total transfers to more than $775 million. The administration says the move delivers on its pledge to invest more heavily in borough-level services.
“This is a paradigm shift for boroughs that have been underfunded in recent years, considering that inflation in October 2024-2025 reached 3.3 per cent in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA),” said Claude Pinard, president of the executive committee and responsible for finance, human resources and homelessness.
“In return, we are counting on them to limit the tax burden on Montrealers. In the end, it’s a win-win situation for the population: we are slowing down the increase in their taxes by offering them more services.”
In exchange, city hall is asking boroughs to keep their tax increases in check to reflect the financial capacity of residents.
