Service des finances and Arrondissement de Ville-Marie
Charter File
The plaintiff owns a building located between another building and an alley, without direct access to a public roadway. His building is not connected to the city’s network of aqueducts and sewers. Nevertheless, the City charges him the special water tax on a yearly basis.
The citizen finds this situation unfair. He wishes to have his building connected to the City’s network or failing that, that the City no longer charges him this water tax.
Our enquiry and analysis confirm the following: since the building does not have direct access to a public roadway, the Borough is not obligated to connect it to the municipal aqueduct and sewer network. In fact, such work would prove to be very complex and costly. Nevertheless, we deem it unfair that in such circumstances, a special water tax be levied to this citizen on a yearly basis.
We obtain from the Borough an Attestation confirming that this building is not and will not be serviced by the municipal network; we forward it to the Service des finances. On the basis of this document, the Service des finances modifies the building’s status in its files and confirms that it will no longer be subjected to the special water tax.
At our request, the Service des finances reimburses the citizen the water taxes he paid over the last three years, with interest, an amount totalling close to $385.
