MONTREAL - The average Montreal homeowner will see their overall property tax bill rise about 3 per cent next year, according to the City of Montreal budget released Wednesday.

The total hike includes a 2.5 per cent property tax increase and 0.5 per cent water tax hike.

The $4.7-billion budget puts the onus on certain boroughs, with residents of Plateau-Mont-Royal, Anjou, Southwest Borough, Lachine and Outremont being hit with the biggest bills.

Here's the breakdown of overall property taxes by borough:

  • Ahunstic-Cartierville 2.8%
  • Anjou 5.4%
  • Cote-des-Neiges – Notre-Dame-de-Grace 2.5%
  • Lachine 4.7%
  • LaSalle 3.4%
  • L'Ile-Bizard – Sainte-Genevieve 1.0%
  • Mercier – Hochelaga-Maisonneuve 3.7%
  • Montreal-Nord 3.2%
  • Outremont 4.6 %
  • Pierrefonds – Roxboro 2.6%
  • Plateau – Mont-Royal 5.7%
  • Riviere-des-Prairies – Pointe-aux-Trembles 2.6%
  • Rosemont – La Petite-Patrie 4.4%
  • Saint-Laurent 2.1%
  • Saint-Leonard 1.7%
  • Southwest 4.9%
  • Verdun 2.1%
  • Ville-Marie 2.1%
  • Villeray – Saint-Michel – Parc-Extension 3.8%

Mayor Gerald Tremblay said the city is promising those extra taxes will go into improved services, including:

  • $28 million increase for policing, for a total of $662 million
  • $7 million increase for sports and community services, for a total of $466 million
  • $4.4 million increase for roads for a total of $130 million

Two of the biggest expenses will go to paying interest toward the city's debt and a pension fund for city employees, which will get 15.9 per cent and 13 per cent of the budget share, respectively.

"We cannot continue to take all the risk and assume all the cost of the pension funds it has to be a better sharing of responsibilities," said Tremblay, who is trying to renegotiate pension contracts with city employees, including police and firefighters.

In 2003, the city paid $130 million toward city pensions; in 2011, it paid $609 million

"We can't continue like that," said Tremblay.