Yellowknife (Dec 10/04) - A new report states that only 60 per cent of infrastructure needs for NWT communities are being fulfilled.

The report, entitled "Building Healthy Communities," was jointly released Monday by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) and the NWT Association of Communities.

It states that conservative estimates show that NWT communities will be short $186 million over next 10 years to cover the costs for building new gymnasiums, fire halls, water and sewer facilities, and other infrastructure needs.

Debbie DeLancey, deputy minister of MACA, said the number surpasses $300 million if the lack of infrastructure for resource development and outstanding maintenance requirements for existing buildings were taken into account.

"The $186 (million) is extremely conservative," said DeLancey.

"We did that on purpose because we didn't want anybody saying, 'oh, look how you inflated the figures.'"

DeLancey said the hardest hit communities are those without a tax base to rely on, typically the smallest communities in the NWT.

She said money from the federal government could be on the way, but it has yet to be decided how much.

"The key will be how the federal government chooses to allocate the gas tax," said DeLancey. "If it's per capita, we lose big time. If it's a base amount we could stand to gain a huge investment into our community infrastructure."

The federal government has committed up to $5 billion in fuel tax money to Canadian municipalities over the next five years.

City councillor Blake Lyons, who heads up the NWT Association of Communities, said he will be pushing the Canadian Federation of Municipalities to accept a package that would give provinces and territories a base rate of one per cent, followed by per capita funding on top of that.

He expects a tough fight, however.

"The big city mayors are strongly opposed to that formula," said Lyons.