A $7,650 tax imposed by the Town of Saint-Zotique on new homeowners within its territory has not met with unanimous approval. At recent municipal council meetings, including the most recent on Tuesday, October 17, the subject was raised during question period. 

The tax must be paid by the owner or developer when the building permit is issued. 

At the August and September meetings, a young couple currently building a home in Saint-Zotique raised the issue with the municipal councillors. At this Tuesday's meeting, another couple, this time older, also questioned the elected officials on the reasons for the introduction of this tax and the amount involved, adding that it is one of the highest in the region. 

The developer of the 270-door project near the new high school, Groupe Chagall, alone will have to pay $1.8 million to pay the tax. 

"The arrival of a new home on municipal territory has an impact on municipal services such as the water filtration plant and the water supply system. If we add 2,000 or 3,000 more homes on the territory, we'll have to increase the capacity of our infrastructures, and the sums to be invested will be significant. For example, instead of being emptied every 5 years, the basins at the filtration plant will have to be emptied every two or three years, and this will incur costs. That's why we've decided to introduce this tax. In reality, the amount should have been $13,000, but we thought that was far too high and decided to split the difference," explained Mayor Yvon Chiasson. 

In the run-up to the adoption of the 2023 budget, the mayor expressed his openness to discussing this tax with his fellow councillors, with a view to deciding whether to maintain it in the next fiscal year. Last year, three residential construction permits were issued by Vi lle.