Yellowknife (Jan 19/05) - A plan to deliver $32 million over five years in matching funds for municipal infrastructure needs was unveiled Tuesday, but it was a gift that didn't amuse Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

The announcement was revealed at a press conference attended by John Godfrey, federal minister of state for infrastructure and communities, along with Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew and Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) Minister Michael McLeod.

It's unclear exactly how the money will be distributed to individual towns and hamlets, but taxed-based communities will take a smaller share.

Fifty-five per cent of the fund will go to non-taxed based communities, while six others in the NWT that do collect taxes will split the other 45 per cent.

Tax-based communities will provide a third of their own funding, adding an extra $7 million to the money that will be spent on infrastructure.

Considering that half the people in the territory live in Yellowknife and many from communities outside of the city use its services, it doesn't appear that the city got a fair shake, Van Tighem said.

"We're experiencing a considerable amount of growth in the tax-based municipalities, quite a bit of it is in-migration from the communities," said Van Tighem.

"We need to be able to provide the infrastructure to support the growth that has occurred."

Van Tighem said he is happy to see any new cash going towards fixing the city's aging water and sewer pipes, among other needs, but he complained that Yellowknife didn't get a chance to plead its case for a bigger share of the fund.

Territorial government officials were off on Christmas break while City Hall was scrambling to get details of the major funding agreement, Van Tighem said.

"Our government enjoys an unpaid vacation over Christmas, so you've got a period of time where there's no communication," said Van Tighem.

"What appears to have happened in this instance is that the opportunity for consultation shrunk and there's a possibility that a previous allocation was selected."

Parade of councillors

A parade of city councillors, including the mayor, questioned Godfrey about the fairness of the fund during a town hall meeting at Northern United Place the night before.

Godfrey said he understands the city's frustration about the lack of consultation, but he ran out of time before the announcement date.

"The assessment of the infrastructure needs, which came out two months ago, reveals that there are higher needs in the non-taxed communities," said Godfrey.

"But we perhaps didn't give it enough time for consultation simply because my trip up here was speeded up."

He said his department will "try to overcome that problem in the future."

McLeod said the government was forced to make tough decisions in dividing the money because the gap in infrastructure funding goes "across the board."

Two months ago his department released a report indicating that the gap will increase by $186 million over the next 10 years.

"We based our allocations on the findings of the study," said McLeod.

"There are more needs across the board in communities, although our larger centres require more money."

Tuesday's press conference also announced an additional $45 million from Ottawa to build roads and bridges in the NWT. That amount will be matched by the territorial government.