Higher fees and taxes were among the general recommendations agreed upon by the municipal and agglomeration finance commissions and representatives of each party to help pull Montreal out of debt.
The commissions met publicly Friday to discuss the city's $400-million deficit.
Finance chairman Sammy Forcillo said the committee's goal wasn't to balance the budget.
"It's not our responsibility to equilibrate – it's to find manner to equilibrate," he said.
One of the opposition party members, Vision Montreal's Pierre Lampron said working toward a balanced budget for next year was a priority.
"The only thing that we can achieve just right now is to observe that that there is a mess out there and that this mess costs a lot to the citizens," he said.
Because the administration hadn't set out priorities, the committee could only come up with general recommendations like hiking property taxes and increasing fees for city services like the Biodome and Botanical Gardens, argued the opposition. Property taxes and user fees would be increased by no more than the two per cent inflation.
Instead, the city will trim administration and other expenses, and take advantage of a Supreme Court ruling allowing the city to tax federal properties like the Port of Montreal and the CBC.
"Without cutting the services to the citizens, if we could reduce the $400-million by having additional revenues, by cutting some expenses, then we would have achieved our goals," said municipal commission chairman Bert Ward.
Earlier in the process, the committee talked about new revenue sources – like charging the Montreal Canadiens for the heavy police security needed after key games – and while the city can still adopt the idea, it wasn't among official proposals.
"The Montreal Canadiens is only an example… it could be Impact, it could be anything else, but we have not necessarily made a recommendation on that issue," said Ward.
Next year's budget will be voted on in December.
