The sad state of infrastructure is impossible to ignore in Montreal.

Whether it’s the mayor getting double flat tires on the pockmarked roads, a Good Samaritan patching the endless potholes, or broken water mains that spout like geysers, the problem has been widely publicized and well documented.

In recent weeks, a pair of reports exposed the extent of the deterioration and the eye-popping costs of repairs. Now another study, released late last week, has been added to the stack, this time on how to tackle the growing maintenance backlog. 

But the solution it proposes is about as enraging as the fact Quebec’s roads, highways, bridges, sewers and water mains — not to mention Montreal’s métro — were left to fall into ruin in the first place: Raise property taxes.

This is the main prescription from two former government heavyweights, onetime Liberal Treasury Board president Monique Jérôme-Forget and ex-Parti Québécois finance minister Nicolas Marceau, in a report commissioned by the Union des municipalités du Québec.

The bipartisan pair say municipalities’ increasing responsibilities — for homelessness and climate resilience on top of garbage collection and water treatment — far outstrip their financial means. This has taken a huge toll on their ability to maintain critical assets.

Indeed, the majority of their revenues are derived from residential and commercial property taxes. But cities, towns and villages have fallen into a “trap” of holding property tax hikes to inflation. 

Jérôme-Forget and Marceau are correct that this is no longer sustainable. Their report states that municipalities are responsible for 60 per cent of public infrastructure, while........

© Montreal Gazette