Yellowknife (Sep 24/04) - About 200 residents of Northlands Trailer Park filed into the legislative assembly Tuesday night to voice their displeasure with City Hall.

They say the city is milking their condo fees, while demanding property taxes that don't pay for any services.

Resident Wade Friesen, age 22, -- who spent the last three weeks researching the city's relationship with the trailer park but is not a member of the trailer park's condominium board -- organized the meeting.

He had extended his invite to the mayor and city council, but only councillors Doug Witty, Mark Heyck and Wendy Bisaro attended. Their MLA, Charles Dent was also present.

The source of frustration with the city is myriad. The 259 trailer residents pay property taxes, yet don't receive any services from the city because the neighbourhood is considered private property, and thus the city's jurisdiction ends at the trailer park's gates.

Condo fees gouged

Monthly condominium fees, which have risen from $65 two years ago to $120 this month, are supposed to pay for the upkeep of roads and water and sewer lines in the trailer park.

Friesen said water wastage fees from the city have drained the reserves of Yellowknife Condominium Corp. No. 8, which represents the trailer park, by as much as one-third every month out of the fees collected.

"That ridiculous," said Friesen, who owns three trailers. "You can't expect to keep and maintain (services) when you slap them with this huge bill."

The city began charging water wastage rates in 1993 after the trailer park became a condo corporation three years earlier. Friesen said monthly bills to the corporation range from $2,500 to $6,000 a month.

"As far as I know, we're the only people that get charged a water wastage bill in Yellowknife," said Friesen, noting that the bills kept coming even after the condo corporation made serious attempts to get residents to fix their water meters.

He said when he checked with the land titles office, the only document he could find that detailed the city's relationship with the trailer park was a 1971 agreement that stated it was the city's responsibility to maintain roads and the water and sewer lines underneath them.

Friesen said he couldn't find any document showing that the trailer park agreed to take on responsibility for those services after it became a condominium corporation in 1990.

He also pointed to city property tax assessments that he says appear to double-bill trailer owners for maintenance of the commons. He said not only are residents charged property taxes of 0.39 per cent each for common areas of the trailer park, but the condo association itself is also billed.

"I don't see anybody else out there paying some kind of area taxation," said former park general manager James Clark, who attended the meeting.

"Downtown taxes, Old Town taxes -- I don't see a separation like that."

On top of everything else, residents are faced with a bill that has been estimated as high as $15 million to upgrade water and sewer lines, although Walter Orr, an engineer with FSC Architects and Engineers, told the audience his best guess was no higher than $11 million.

$50,000 or more each

Friesen said the city should take some responsibility instead of expecting residents to enter into a long-term financing deal that could see them pay $50,000 or more each.

"We've been paying for maintenance and repairs to the roads and infrastructure since 1971 as far as I can tell," said Friesen.

"All that money combined should pay for the $15 million the city is talking about charging us."

Residents at the meeting were clearly bothered by what they heard at the meeting, but buoyed by the large turnout of their neighbours.

A couple of them suggested their strength in numbers -- with about 1,000 people living in the trailer park -- ought to be enough to convince politicians that they are a voting block that should not be ignored.

"We're two per cent of the population of the NWT," said one resident. "Why are we saying we need new pipes?"

Coun. Witty, prodded to address the crowd, said he would take their concerns back to City Hall.

"We need to get all the facts on the table and find out what the truth is," said Witty.

'Unfair situation'

"If there truly is an unfair situation taking place then I'm sure council will address it."

Dent said he heard numerous complaints during last fall's territorial election campaign. He said Northlands residents may have a case.

"I think they deserve answers to their questions from the city," said Dent.

"I think there has to be some look at whether or not, through their taxes, they're deserving of some consideration."