Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 28/99) - After suffering the wrath of citizens for raising taxes, councillors are scrambling to find a way to placate the public.

Citizens speak out On Monday, city councillors met to digest and talk about what they've been hearing from Yellowknife taxpayers. For long-time resident John Dalton, the exercise proved that the city is not following a long-term economic plan. "Nobody has asked where a six per cent tax increase fits within the economic development plans of Yellowknife," Dalton said. "Nobody is looking at the big picture and the big picture is where do we want to be in 10 years?" He called raising taxes a "knee-jerk" response that was done without any consideration of what that would mean down the road. "We haven't heard anything that council is doing in a positive sense on how to attract new business and retain current businesses," Dalton said. "If running a deficit would attract people here and result in long-term gains for the city, then maybe that's what should be done." Yellowknifer Jim Philip was also at the meeting, and he left angry. "I thought that the discussion wasn't valuable because they already raised taxes," Philip said. "I don't recall anyone requesting my input when they decided to do that."

They called a special meeting Monday to discuss options, one of which looked at a tax rebate.

In order to have the six per cent increase in the mill rate refunded or credited, city councillors would have to enact a new bylaw that calls for the cancellation of the one that increased taxes.

"Up until today, I was under the impression that a councillor who voted to raise taxes would have to bring forward a motion (to rescind the decision)," councillor Peggy Near said.

"Because the tax hike was done through a bylaw, and not through a motion, anyone on council can bring forward another bylaw to cancel the tax raise."

She said if a new bylaw was drafted to do that, they would still have to decide how to go about getting the money back into the pockets of the people.

"Do we keep the taxes and give a credit on next year's tax bills or do we refund the six per cent? If we're going to cancel the original bylaw, then we still have to discuss how we're going to do it," Near said.

"That doesn't mean that council will accept a new bylaw, but at least we can get this issue back into the public forum for debate."

Councillor Ben McDonald restated his commitment to raising taxes at Monday's meeting, saying it was the right thing to do.

"What are we going to do -- close the pool, or the library? If we cut services we're going to be taking the heat for those decisions from the same number of people who are upset right now," he said.

Councillors Robert Slaven and Bob Brooks agreed that raising taxes was the best option at this time to ensure the city's surplus remains intact and services stay secure.

But councillors Dave Ramsay and Cheryl Best disagreed with their logic.

"We were so close to the next budget that the decision to raise taxes was absolutely, positively, the worst decision this council could have made -- and now we're left searching for solutions," Ramsay said.

There is a priorities, planning and budget meeting scheduled for Aug. 3. Near said she has no doubt that those councillors who voted against the tax bylaw will bring forward a recommendation to cancel the tax raise at that time.

That recommendation will then be voted on at an evening council meeting, Aug. 9.

"(The new recommendation) may be defeated because it would still take a councillor who voted for raising taxes to support it, but at least it gives us another kick at the can," Near said.