According to city hall finance department numbers, $15,488,300 of a total $18,827,500 spent last year went to local businesses.

The figure includes everything but payroll and loan payments.

But according to city hall's definition, local means any business that has an office or subsidiary in the city.

Describing the criteria for determining which businesses are local, financial services manager Robert Charpentier said, "Any business would have to reside in Yellowknife. For example if a truck was bought at Kingland Ford it would be considered a local expenditure."

Kingland Ford is a Hay River company with a dealership in the city.

Charpentier said RTL Robinson Trucking, Volker Stevin Contracting and Clark Builders are other examples of companies that would qualify as local.

Clark Builders is a Calgary-based firm. RTL is a long-time Northern firm that uses mostly southern labor. According to an employment report on work it did last year on Highway 3, just 25 of 116 workers used on the project lived in Yellowknife.

In 1995, about 86 per cent of city spending went to local businesses. In 1994 and 1993 that number stood at 84 and 87 per cent respectively.

A staff report attributed the slight dip to purchases of equipment, such as a street sweeper and vactor truck, and services not available locally.