Council avoids tax increase
Some councillors say cuts don't go far enough
Randi Beers
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, December 17, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There will be no property tax increase and lower than planned increases to some user fees after city council passed its $64.6 million budget Monday night.
Mayor inserts himself into budget debate
It's normally a rare sight, but it happened twice during last week's budget deliberations.
Mayor Mark Heyck passed his chair to city councillor Cory Vanthuyne in order to participate in the budget debate, first to argue in favour of saving a proposed $97,000 destination marketing plan and later to propose $61,000 to help the Yellowknife Fastball Association pay for a green outfield at Tommy Forrest Ball Park.
The marketing plan was ultimately shot down although a pared down version was re-introduced the next night and approved. The outfield money was approved unanimously.
Heyck is council's presiding officer and typically plays a mediator role. He is barred by council procedures from fully participating in debates, but he has the option to pass his chair to the deputy mayor, Cory Vanthuyne, and join the debate.
"Rarely if ever have I passed the chair," he said.
"But these particular (debates) I felt strongly about."
He said he really wanted to see the Tommy Forrest Ball Park upgrades happen and regarding the marketing plan, he wanted to see council follow through on a project it had already approved.
"When we create a strategy and spend taxpayer dollars on that strategy, we ought to follow through," he told Yellowknifer.
"And if not, council should discuss and decide not to at that time in particular. The destination marketing plan had merit and I was disappointed to see it proposed for cutting."
He conceded it's been an adjustment to go from being on city council, where he served three terms, to mayor and added he will wait to hear what other councillors have to say before deciding whether to join debate.
Council procedures don't give Vanthuyne the option of refusing the mayoral seat and Heyck said he keeps that in mind.
"Typically, I only want to pass the chair to somebody with the same opinion as me," he said.
Vanthuyne told Yellowknifer he feels that council procedures demonstrate the need for a good relationship between the mayor and deputy mayor and expressed gratitude he and Heyck have that.
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Council came together Monday night after two hours of debate earlier that afternoon with the proposal, which passed with only Coun. Niels Konge opposed.
"We worked hard, but we could have done better," he said, giving his last remarks on the budget before the vote.
"We cut $2.1 million out of the budget but we couldn't put money back into taxpayers' pockets (in the form of a tax decrease) and quite frankly that disappoints me."
Councillors had found themselves deadlocked earlier in the day on how to manage a $1.3-million surplus they had carved out of next year's budget the week before. Mayor Mark Heyck broke the tie by voting in favour of a proposal he had put forward himself last Thursday night.
The proposal avoids administration's proposed 2.98 per cent tax increase and halves planned user rate hikes to the solid waste management fund and water and sewer fund. Water and sewer fees were previously scheduled to increase by 10 per cent and waste management fees were scheduled to increase by five per cent next year.
Coun. Adrian Bell had put forward an alternative motion to decrease taxes, leave user fees the same and use the rest of the surplus to stabilize property taxes in the future.
A sometimes heated debate ensued about whether it would benefit Yellowknifers more to give the surplus back in the form of a tax decrease or in the form of lower user fee increases, a quandary Coun. Rebecca Alty dubbed "six of one, half dozen of the other."
Bell said he felt strongly that lowering taxes would be more responsible because the planned user fee hikes were set to cover operating costs and help administration dig itself out of deficits in the two funds.
"When we look at (Heyck's) proposal, I think the one issue I've had with it is we are trying to throw taxpayers a bone by reducing (user fee) rates but those rates are justified," said Bell.
"If there is an element to leave intact I believe it's the fee increases … to reduce those now puts us in a worse position at the end of next year. I understand taxpayers will appreciate it but tomorrow's taxpayers probably would not appreciate it."
Coun. Cory Vanthuyne saw the issue from the opposite perspective, arguing a lower tax rate now could cause it to rise by a steeper percentage in coming years. He remained Heyck's staunchest supporter, calling his plan "powerful."
"The (mayor's) proposal presented before us is absolutely greater than what most residents of Yellowknife have been seeking," he said.
"Taking cash and putting it in their pocket might be the right thing to do for some but it will just put the burden on years to come if we don't manage (our surplus) responsibly."
Coun. Dan Wong echoed Vanthuyne's thoughts, saying Heyck's proposal was balanced.
"It allows us to do three things," he said.
"Leave money in the bank for capital purchases, maintain support for a tax freeze and takes the edge off steep increases next year."
Last week, council managed to cut a total of $2.1 million out of the budget, far surpassing the $767,275 it needed to avoid a tax increase. To get there they slashed a number of items, including a $15,000 sound system for city hall, a $50,000 city re-branding strategy and a $20,000 remote control system for lights, blinds, screens and the thermostat in council chambers.
Deneen Everett, executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, sat through the entire budget process with NWT chamber executive director Mike Bradshaw. She praised council for listening to the business community.
"We are happy we will see no tax increase," she said.
"I hope we see no tax increase next year as well. But I think Niels Konge made a good point that they made all these cuts and they still weren't able to lower taxes."
