Understanding school tax

The CGTSIM collects school taxes for all taxable properties within the territories served by the school service centres and school boards on the Island of Montréal:

The territory served by the CGTSIM includes the City of Montréal, the 15 municipalities located on the Island of Montréal, and 23 municipalities located west of the Island of Montréal, in the Harwood territory. On the Island of Montréal, all property owners receive a school tax bill from the CGTSIM. In the Harwood territory, only property owners registered as English-speaking or “neutral” receive a school tax bill from the CGTSIM. The French-speaking school service centre in this territory, the Centre de services scolaire des Trois-Lacs, collects its own school tax.

School tax revenue helps fund critical aspects of education. It enables the school network to finance:

This funding contributes to the stability of the education network and promotes a supportive learning environment.

An annual basic exemption of the first $25,000 of the property’s assessed value is applied to each school tax account.

The school tax is calculated based on the property’s adjusted standardized value. This value is obtained after spreading the change in assessed values resulting from the implementation of the assessment roll. Only municipalities have authority over property assessments.

The spreading of value changes involves distributing the increase or decrease in assessed value compared to the previous roll over the roll period, which is generally three years. For any information regarding the assessment of your property, contact the municipality where the property is located.

Value on preceding roll: $400,000
Value on new roll: $430,000
Increase in value: $30,000
Duration of roll: 3 years
Average increase per year: $10,000

Adjusted taxable value for school tax purposes:

Year 1: 410 000 $
Year 2: 420 000 $
Year 3: 430 000 $