How will Denis Coderre and Valrie Plante spend your money?

Montreal will have a budget upwards of $5.2 billion next year, and whoever wins Sunday's vote will have the chance to use that money to shape the city in their image.

That's a hefty sum, and for both front-runners earning votes means first establishing their credentials as financial stewards.

Projet Montral's Valrie Plante is, perhaps, more vulnerable on this front, given she's a challenger waging an ambitious campaign.

• ANALYSIS | How Valrie Plante and Denis Coderre are trying to win your vote

Calling Projet's promises unrealistic is a favourite line of attack for incumbent Denis Coderre and his party.

At a news conference on Friday, members of Coderre's team claimed that just seven of Plante's promises will incur $800 million in additional annual spending for the city. But it is not clear what that estimate is based on.

Projet pegs the cost of its own campaign promises at $55 million in extra spending.

In an exchange with Radio-Canada, Projet attached the following dollar figures to some of their pricier proposals:

• Free STM service for children 12 and under: $20 million.
• Free STM service for elderly (65+): $44 million.
• Reduced fares for low income Montrealers: $46 million.
• Slashing the Welcome Tax for 5,000 families: $20-25 million.
• Tax cuts for businesses affected by construction: $10 million.

Other promises, though, are uncosted, including their proposal to build 12,000 new units of social and affordable housing.

Sharing costs with province, feds

The party believes the city will be able to share the costs of its projects with the federal and provincial governments, both of which have set aside massive infrastructure funds for municipal investments.

Much of this money, though, is already committed to two major projects.

Ottawa and Quebec have pledged a combined $2.6 billion for the light-rail network being built by the Caisse de dpt et placement du Qubec. And the Blue line extension, which Quebec has already committed to, is slated to cost around $3 billion.

Those are the funds that Plante wants to tap in order to finance her proposed Pink line, with a price tag estimated at$6 billion.

• ANALYSIS |Projet Montral's Pink line: Pipe dream or election game-changer?

At the same time, there are indications at least some money remains available for transit initiatives.

TRANSIT, a provincial public transit lobby group, said last week there are more than $650 million in Ottawa's coffers earmarked for Quebec and waiting to be spent by the end of 2018.

Alongside these potential investment sources, money also appears to be forthcoming for social housing.

Ottawa will spend $11 billion nationally over the next 11 years boosting housing supply, and Quebec said earlier this year it will build 3,000 new units across the province, including Montreal.

By drawing on federal and provincial funds, Projet argues it will need only to find $55 million to finance the balance of its progressive agenda.

• The charm offensive: Valerie Plante's charge for City Hall

To get there, they say they've identified roughly $25 million worth of potential savings in the existing budget, the bulk of whichwill come from the end of Montreal's 375th birthday celebrations.

They acknowledge that this still leaves them $20 million in the red, butpoint out that is$11 million less than this year's projected deficit.

Working with what we have

Undertaking a similar exercise for quipe Coderre is difficult, because the party declined to provide to Radio-Canada costed estimates of its spending proposals.

Coderre, nevertheless, says his campaign promises are being made within the city's existing financial framework.

"We've been tabling budgets for four years," he said at a recent news conference when questioned about his financial credibility.

• Smooth operator: The Denis Coderre method to staying in power

In the early days of the campaign, Plante often accused Coderre of "recycling" spending announcements.

Indeed, many of the projects that Coderre announced were already included in previous budgets, such as the $45-million aquatic centre in Pierrefonds-Roxboro, first mentioned in the borough's 2015 strategic plan.

The strategy allowed Coderre to provide specific answers to questions about funding. The downside? The announcements produced a collective shrug from voters.

As the campaign went on, Coderre also made a series of new promisesfor which there are no dollar figuresattached. These include:

• An expansion of the Palais des Congrs convention centre.
• Compensation for businesses affected by construction.
• Subsidies to help families with young children buy property.
• A new velodrome.

Then there is the question of public money for a baseball stadium, should the Montreal Expos make a return to the city.

Coderre has indicated his administration would pony up cash for a new ballpark, but has balked when asked how much.

The election is Sunday, so there is still time to check the price tags on Projet's promises and look into the track record of the salesman asking you to trust him. In politics, as in business, caveat emptor.

Make a date with CBC for election night this Sunday, Nov. 5:

• CBC'sfull coverage of the 2017 municipal election

Online:Get breaking news and live results at cbc.ca/montreal after polls close at 8 p.m.

On Facebook:Join host Debra Arbec for a 90-minute Facebook Live starting at 10 p.m. with results, analysis and reports from across Quebec.

On TV:Watch our live results show at 11-11:30 p.m. on CBC Television.

On radio:Listen to CBCRadio One starting at 8 p.m. for a province-wide show hosted by Mike Finnerty in Montreal and Susan Campbell in Quebec City.