Yellowknife (Dec 15/04) - There may be a call for a tax increase next year, but that hasn't stopped several community groups from asking city council for $170,000 more in funding.

Council heard eight proposals seeking new or additional core funding during Monday's special budget meeting.

The NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities was also there, asking council to include $80,000 in the budget for accessible

transit.

On top of that, Ecology North implored council to not cut the city's recycling program, and another request from the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce urged spending cuts to reduce the need for a tax hike.

Ecology North's Doug Ritchie told council that Yellowknife "is in a garbage crisis" and could ill afford to cut recycling efforts.

Even though the city's solid waste fund for next year shows an increase from $1,450,000 to $1,539,000, Ritchie said his group is concerned council may order cuts for the sake of cutting taxes.

"We need to stop the sea of cardboard going into the dump every day," said Ritchie.

"Just about every community knows that recycling saves money because it extends the life of the landfill."

Ritchie's plea prompted Coun. Kevin O'Reilly to ask administration if the city's two-year-old recycling co-ordinator position is on the chopping block. Council briefly considered making a cut during 2004 budget deliberations earlier this year.

City administrator Max Hall told O'Reilly that the job is still "status quo" for now.

Chamber president Steve Meister complained of the timeliness of the draft budget, which he said didn't give them enough time to review it. The chamber had the same complaint last year.

"It would appear that again it fell on deaf ears," said Meister.

He told council his organization doesn't believe the city can justify a tax increase.

Meister suggested the city look at the proposed $363,000 in capital spending for information technology (IT) and consider outsourcing some of the computer work and data collecting.

"One of the first things we looked at was IT," said Meister.

"There's things in there we don't fully understand."

Hall, however, pointed to new projections from property assessments that indicate the city may only need a 1.5 per cent tax increase next year instead of the 2.85 per cent published in the original draft budget.

Smaller tax hike

It remains to be seen, however, if council will go for a smaller tax hike after deciding the same evening to include the $80,000 for a wheelchair accessible van, not to mention the request for an extra $170,000 in core funding.

City council could vote on the budget as early as Dec. 20.