Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 19/01) - Yellowknife ratepayers almost saw their tax rates frozen Monday night. Almost, but not quite.

Kevin O'Reilly: not a fan of grand-standing.

City council killed a proposal to freeze taxes and utility rates next year by a vote of four to three during a four-hour session of the public services committee that provoked heated debate.

Coun. Robert Hawkins tabled an amendment to include the freeze as one of council's goals and objectives. It was the only item on the agenda.

Ben McDonald, Wendy Bisaro, Kevin O'Reilly and Blake Lyons voted against the amendment on the grounds it could tie administration's hands in preparing the budget.

Robert Hawkins, Alan Woytuik and Dave McCann voted for it. Dave Ramsay was absent.

The financial implications of the proposal prompted council and administration to retreat to an in-camera session in the middle of debate, even though the justification for the secrecy remains unclear.

Tim Mercer, acting senior administrator, said he needed to "educate" council on the repercussions of a freeze and asked that it be done privately. All councillors present agreed to the secret session except Hawkins.

"It's in the public interest (to go behind closed doors)," said McDonald, refusing to say how.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said technical discussions on a tax freeze include personnel and legal issues, but he wouldn't elaborate.

After the meeting, O'Reilly ripped a sheet from a flip chart to thwart a reporter's attempts to scrutinize it.

Personal attacks

The meeting ended in ugly fashion with O'Reilly verbally attacking Hawkins.

"Stop grand-standing, Robert. This is what it is," said O'Reilly, jabbing his finger in the air.

Monday night's debate also laid raw the deep ideological rift between councillors.

After McCann tabled an amendment to increase the monitoring of city spending for waste, he met heavy opposition from McDonald, who attacked McCann's private-sector philosophy.

An ideological spat has consistently surfaced in the last few meetings between other councillors as well.

In a previous interview, Bisaro said "there's almost a business versus standard-of-living point of view."

That division that came to a head on Monday. Bisaro said councillors often don't listen to each other. "Sometimes I walk away thinking I don't really know where they're coming from," she said.

Hawkins said he is not giving up, and will table his tax-hike freeze amendment at next Monday's council meeting.