Rankin Inlet (Apr 16/03) - Rankin Inlet hamlet council is busy looking for ways to add another few holes to its municipal budget belt.

The hamlet is projecting a deficit of $121,000 for the April 1, 2003, to March 31, 2004, fiscal year.

The figure is a preliminary deficit budget only, with the final budget expected to be tabled this coming June.

Among the contributors to the projected deficit is an expected $50,000 increase in the hamlet's insurance rates.

As well, Rankin now has its own full-time fire chief -- a position only partially funded by the Nunavut government.

The hamlet must make up about $50,000 of the chief's salary.

The council's honorarium budget is also projected to more than double from the $35,000 paid out during the 2002 fiscal year.

The hamlet expects to pay about $76,000 in honorariums during the 2003 fiscal year.

Hamlet SAO Ron Roach says council does plan to discuss reducing the honorarium rate.

"I want to make it clear that, to date, hamlet council has only passed a provisional or a tentative budget," says Roach.

"Council will discuss the budget again during its April 28 meeting and it (the budget) could change substantially during the next two months."

Roach says another main contributor to the projected deficit is an expected five cent-per-kilowatt-hour hike in power rates, which council expects to be approved.

"Most hamlets haven't allowed for that in their projected budgets, but we've included it in ours as a kind of worse case scenario."

The hamlet of Rankin Inlet has a surplus of more than $350,000 from previous years.

That figure is expected to rise significantly once the audit is completed on the 2002 fiscal year.

Roach says the hamlet's 2002 forecast is a prime example of how quickly budget numbers can change.

"We had, tentatively, booked a deficit of $28,000 in last year's budget, but we're now expecting to end up with a surplus of around $50,000 to $60,000.

"The same could very well hold true this year.

"Should we receive increased funding to help cover the raise in our power rates, for example, that alone would lower our projected deficit to about $60,000."