SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - While Yellowknife ratepayers are staring at a possible 7.2 per cent property tax increase in 2011, it remains unclear at what rate wages at city hall will increase next year.

That's because this year is the last of a three-year collective agreement for the 110 city employees represented by the Union of Northern Workers, who saw their wages hiked by 6.5 per cent - up from four per cent last year.

This year's wage spike is more than double the increment offered to territorial government workers who saw their 2010 wages rise by 2.5 per cent.

City councillor Mark Heyck said the reason wage hikes are higher at city hall is because the city has had trouble in the past recruiting workers.

"We compete with the territorial and federal government for employees in the job market," said Heyck.

Staff, other than firefighters, management, and only recently municipal enforcement offers, are represented by the Union of Northern Workers.

According to Heyck, the turnover rate of city employees a few years ago hovered somewhere around 25 per cent.

"It was tough to find qualified, experienced individuals to work in city positions," said Heyck.

The current three-year agreement was designed to "close the gap" between the wages the city offers and those offered by the GNWT and federal government.

Heyck said retention of employees is especially important because the process of advertising jobs, conducting interviews and then making decisions on who to hire all cost money.

In 2005, the city experienced a turnover rate of about 20 per cent, which spiked to 27.3 per cent in 2008. In 2009, the turnover rate dropped to 18.6 per cent.

According to the 2010 city budget, the current number of staffed positions at the city is 203.72, a number which has risen steadily from 192.68 in 2008.

The city is projected to spend $19.9 million on salaries and benefits this year - a little less than a third of the $64. 7 million budget.

Staff wages in 2010 range from $20.41 to $42.12 an hour for non-management jobs.

City managers and directors make between $58,620 to $150,581 a year.

At the GNWT, the wages range from $21.55 to $70.12 an hour for full-time staff who are members of the Union of Northern Workers.

Whitehorse, Yukon, a city similar in population and longitude, has similar pay rates in its municipal government.

The wages range is from $19.38 to $42.34 an hour.

Wage increases at the City of Whitehorse have hovered between 3 per cent and 3.5 per cent from 2005 to 2008, while Yellowknife ranged from 3 per cent to 4 per cent during the same period.

Whitehorse city workers have been without a collective agreement since last year, and a new one is still being hammered out, according to Gaelle Wells, a human resources specialist with the City of Whitehorse.

Heyck and Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem did not want to speculate on whether city wages would continue to rise at their current pace when the city begins to negotiate its new collective agreement after the present one expires in December.

Van Tighem also didn't want to speculate on whether the wage increases have helped bring in employees, but said the city must have changed something for the better when it increased the rate.

"Eight years ago we used to advertise (jobs) twice to get to the point of having enough applicants to go through the interview process," said Van Tighem.

He said the city now sometimes gets upwards of 20 applicants for a listed job.