by Glenn Taylor
Northern News Services

INUVIK (May 02/97) - Inuvik's town council will fight recommendations by the Inuvik Utilities Planning Commission to double water and sewage rates for some customers.

And the commission wants to do that while withdrawing millions from a utilidor replacement fund for a project that would only benefit government consumers.

Town councillor David Connelly called a special meeting of council Tuesday night to oppose the commission's recommendations.

Connelly and Mayor George Roach serve as Inuvik's representatives on the commission, which includes two members each from the NWT Power Corporation, and two members from Municipal and Community Affairs.

Connelly argued that the commission was established to support Inuvik's interests, and had acted "beyond (its) mandate and was not upholding (its) duty of trust" when it made the recommendations.

He also asked why the two NWT Power Corporation members on the commission were allowed to vote on the recommendations. As supplier of these services, the NWT Power Corporation was in clear conflict of interest when it voted on the issues.

Connelly told council it should object to the recommendations and appeal to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs to have them struck down.

Council did just that Tuesday night, voting to retain the $25 minimum fees and the maximum charge caps, and locking in those rates for one year effective immediately.

It also voted to increase fines on those cheating the water meter system, and applying those penalties to a fund to reduce residential water and sewage rates by one per cent.

And council passed a motion approving the commission's call to loan $1.5 million for utilidor conversion, but not the entire $2 million the commission had wanted.

Town council has the right under an agreement with the commission to appeal decisions of the commission. It is now up to the Minister to consider the motions of council and the commission.

The commission was established in 1990 to administer the utilidor system. It is also supposed to ensures that enough money was being set aside each year to pay for the replacement cost of a new one. At least $750,000 must be contributed to the fund annually, according to commission estimates.

Only $27,000 was contributed to the fund last year. The commission recommended last month doubling the minimum monthly water and sewage rates from $25 to $50 to help make up the shortfall.

It recommended doing this while removing the "maximum charge" cap which protects high volume users.

It also recommended drawing $2 million from money already in the fund to help pay for a conversion of the utilidor that would only benefit the territorial government, which would have to pay back $1.5 million.

The GNWT heats several of its buildings with a high temp boiler system. That system pumps superheated water from the NWT Power Corporation through the utilidor to the buildings.

The system costs the government $800,000 more per year to operate than conventional heating systems. The GNWT wants to get out of system altogether, converting the utilidor system to a "low temp" system that would only pump enough hot water into the utilidor to prevent pipes from freezing.