One tax rate for all boards?

WQSB ready to collaborate with French boards

The Western Québec School Board (WQSB) told the Ministry of Education this fall that it would collaborate with boards in Outaouais to resolve their regional taxation differences.

“We are asking the ministry to find a resolution to the inequitable tax rate,” said James Shea, WQSB Chairman. “We are pleased our ratepayers have a lower rate, but we also realize the situation is inequitable.”

According to Johanne Légaré, Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l'Outaouais (CSPO) Chairperson, “this situation is not unique to Outaouais. Other regions are also dealing with this issue, but in many cases it’s the taxation rate of English boards which are higher.”

Compared to French boards on its territory, the WQSB’s taxation rate is much lower. For example, the current WQSB rate is 0.17978 per $100 of valuation versus 0.30786 per $100 valuation for the Commission scolaire des Draveurs (CSD), which covers the territory of Cantley, Denholm, Val des Monts and the Gatineau sector.

Since this difference has become common knowledge, thousands, who don’t have a child in the French education system, have switched their taxes from the French board to the WQSB. “Looking at the big picture, this dilemma was created by us following provincial regulations,” noted Shea.

Quebec City determines the amount of money a board must raise with taxes. The board identifies its valuation base to determine a tax rate to collect money it needs to balance its budget; legally, the board must present a balanced budget. With so many taxpayers switching, this means the WQSB will receive more tax dollars, but it does not necessarily translate to a greater cash flow. The amount to educate a child is capped across the province, but the WQSB taxation rate will continue to decrease and the tax rate of boards losing taxpayers will increase up to a maximum of $0.35.

One possible solution is that the ministry would create a flat tax rate for the WQSB and the French boards. This is the situation on the Island of Montreal where the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l’île de Montréal handles the collection of school taxes for all the boards on the Island. However, the WQSB covers a vast territory stretching from the Laurentians to Val d’Or, covering 10 French boards. It serves 155 municipalities spread across an area of over 90,000 square kilometres. Therefore, imposing the Montréal model would prove difficult.

“I’m not sure this solution would fit for our region, because in Montréal the numbers are much higher than here, but we will see. One thing is that it’s abnormal that there are three different rates for French boards in the City of Gatineau alone. I’ve talked to the minister and he told me the ministry is working on finding a solution to this issue. I hope it will be implemented for next school year because, as you know, our rate increases when taxpayers leave our board and the WQSB’s rate decreases further,” said Légaré.

Mr Shea told the Bulletin that the WQSB is keeping an open mind, but that they “value their  single tax rate. We also don’t want to jeopardize our favourable situation. We would be open to a resolution that doesn’t impact negatively our ratepayers,” said Shea. “The board will discuss this situation in 2017.”