SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Last month, it was zero residents and four city councillors.

This time the turnout was a little better as eight residents met with five councillors for an informal town hall meeting at city hall Monday, where ideas and concerns were raised about the city's budgeting process.

Resident Spencer Tracy, left, makes suggestions at an informal town hall meeting at city hall Monday night as councillor David Wind listens. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

"What traditionally happens, a lot of the rest of us residents-at-large and even councillors do not put serious thought into (the budget) until the end of the year," said city councillor Paul Falvo.

He said by holding discussions earlier in the year, council can head into the budget process at the end of the year better armed with knowledge of what residents want.

"How do we want to plan our capital (spending)? Is there some projects that we need to plan for now that may take two, five, ten, 20 years in the making?" Coun. Bob Brooks asked the room of attendees.

Resident Jeff Corradetti said he believes the city takes on too much and should go back to the basics of running a municipality.

"Going with this Con Mine heating, you're pursuing these big multi-million dollar projects ... Big eyes and small pockets. The mandate is too wide open ... I think it should go back to the basics," said Corradetti.

He said money should be spent more on infrastructure projects rather than on new facilities.

"It's nice to have these nice rec centres but disgusting roads, horrible street cleaning? The way they're directing money is a problem," he said.

Tales from the Dump columnist Walt Humphries, who has lived in Yellowknife for 40 years, said he thinks there are ways for the city to save more or create high revenue such as carpooling workers to the same work site, filling the dump site with "perfectly good fill" to create a flat area and making better use of the new fieldhouse.

"There doesn't seem to some sort of oversight where there's a control saying 'How do we cap these things?' ... Any way the city can up their revenues, is a good idea, short of raising taxes," said Humphries.

Resident John Stephenson came to the meeting with a specific item he wanted to discuss: funding for the city's cross-country and biathlon facility.

Coun. David Wind said that as a councillor, it is easy to get "bogged-down" by the budget process.

"Councillors do have to rely to a very great extent on what administration provides them. I think what we need is a discussion once a year separate from the budgeting process to give some feedback to our administration, and ask for careful justification on certain budget items," he said.

Resident Martina Simons asked councillors to consider ways to prioritize and quantify the pros and cons of each capital project.

"The cost-benefit analysis of each project would be rated on the same platform ... including health benefits, cost of operating the facility, staffing it, utilities," she said.

Brooks agreed, saying the city needed some sort of capital asset management plan.

Coun. Cory Vanthuyne said there is a problem with the budget process.

"There is no decision-making mechanism other than, call it the wish list. Don't get me wrong, each director knows their department fairly well ... however there is no city-wide, unified approach on how we need to measure something," said Vanthuyne.

Brooks said information gathered at the informal town hall meetings will be taken into the city's next session in May and June or a recommendation will be made to council and administration in the next few weeks to bring the ideas forward.

Coun. Amanda Mallon also attended the meeting.

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