Current ads
Jobs
Tenders
Notices
General

Click below

Ratepayers fear property tax increases

Council urged to seek other ways to ease budget problems

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

Fed up with the lack of money to pave Iqaluit's dilapidated roads, ratepayers are demanding the imposition of a vehicle tax. (FILE PHOTO)

---

Iqaluit's struggle to improve roads, sewage pipes and other infrastructure has provoked homeowners to issue renewed calls for a tax on drivers, to help offset city hall's rising expenses.

Many ratepayers hope such a move would help avoid further tax hikes on property owners, and share the growing burden they carry in funding municipal services, from future walkways to a currently troubled paving plan.

Larry Simpson, a homeowner for 20 years in Iqaluit, warned council not to ask ratepayers to pitch in more money through increased taxes, or to approve more borrowing to solve the current cash crunch.

Simpson said councillors need to honour a promise from John Matthews, the former mayor, that they would put a user-fee system in place. The proposed changes would force residents who don't own property to chip in an amount of tax that reflects how much they use municipal infrastructure, like roads.

"There was a gentleman's agreement there, that future tax increases... would be more equitable," Simpson said. "Don't always come back and dump it on the ratepayers. We're only a small population here."

Other ratepayers echoed Simpson in their reaction to news that Iqaluit council has abandoned its original plan to infuse $51 million in repairs and upgrades to the community's crumbling infrastructure. Council shares the overall budget for the plan with the government of Nunavut.

Council will study its budget in the coming months to find ways of closing the gap between revenue and expenses, after learning that millions of dollars in reserves have dried up years earlier than planned. Council is also grappling with a decline in development that they expected to bring in much-needed taxes.

As a result, the city lacks about $10 million in funds required for capital plan commitments.

Some ratepayers suggest that the city's cited reasons for the shortfalls don't add up.

Kowesa Etitiq, an Iqaluit homeowner of two years, said council should order an independent review of the finance department and other administrators, similar to a full review done two years ago on a dysfunctional public works department.

"The City's screwups are always having to be paid for by the homeowners," Etitiq said. "I think it's time to look at the advice these folks are giving. Is it the right advice?"

Etitiq supported levying a gas tax or road use fee on drivers, but also wanted to see the City change its approach to road repairs.

He noted that contractors have repaved the same roads in Iqaluit several times, while neglecting to tend to other streets. Etitiq said council could save money by hiring a new company to do the work, because the contractor, Baffin Building Systems, is "obviously not doing a good job."

Susan Gardener, a long-time homeowner, also appealed to council to start sharing more of the expenses with non-homeowners, such as taxi drivers.

Gardener, who chairs the Iqaluit Housing Authority board, said taxi drivers usually don't own homes, but use the streets more than anyone else.

With an estimated 300 new vehicles entering Iqaluit every year, Gardener said city hall shouldn't wait to slap a tax on all vehicle owners.

"The homeowners are being depended on for so much when it comes to the maintenance of roads," she said. "It [a vehicle tax] is another way of bringing in money."

Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik said city administration made the right decision in lobbying to put the original capital plan on hold, because costs were getting too high.

Besides a shortage of development dollars, Sheutiapik and other council members blame unexpected expenses like repairs on the new arena, and pricey contracts, like sewage system upgrades, for the budget shortfalls.

Administration has repeatedly blamed the city's household recycling program for draining resources. Last month, council considered cutting the program, which costs about $250,000, but which was budgeted to receive just $5,000 this year.

"I think it's normal practice," Sheutiapik said of council reviewing their plans for infrastructure upgrades. "We want to make sure that we're making informed decisions.

"We're more proactive. I think that something that taxpayers have to remember, is that this is a process to ensure that we are [using] due diligence."

TOP

Advertising
Specs, rates,
& maps
Multi-paper
buying services
About the market
E-mail ad dept

More Information