Canada/Sept-Rivières RCM budget jumps by 60

Expenses will total $9.7 million, up from $6.1 million in 2024.

According to Élisabeth Chevalier, General Manager of the MRC, this is due in part to the four new hires and the new responsibilities assigned to the MRC.

For our MRC territory, we have to draw up a GHG inventory. After that, we have to find measures to reduce these gases. So, it's really a laborious exercise, requiring a 100% dedicated resource.

Another major expense is the fund for digital transformation and energy efficiency. The $1.5 million envelope earmarked for this has already been almost entirely allocated. This situation has prompted Élisabeth Chevalier to call for the fund to be renewed.

We hope it will be renewed, and soon, because there are even greater needs than that. We need digital transformation to save costs. Sometimes, we don't have enough employees. So if we innovate digitally, we can make up for the lack of certain employees," she explains.

The MRC has also increased its funding for the Gallix ski resort to $380,000, a measure already announced last August that has enabled, among other things, the hiring of four new employees at the resort.

Police services cost municipalities dearly

The Sept-Rivières MRC also denounces the ever-increasing cost to the towns served by the Sûreté du Québec.

The prefect of the Sept-Rivières MRC joined other municipalities on Wednesday in criticizing the 6.7% average increase in the cost of police services.

Denis Miousse is calling on the Ministère de la Sécurité publique to shed light on this increase. He deplores the fact that towns have no say in the services they receive.

Earlier this month, the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ) called for a cap to be put in place to prevent rate increases.

According to the organization, this announcement adds considerable pressure on cities as they finalize their budgets for 2025.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/