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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Following a tough month of rejections from both Ottawa and the territorial government, city councillors sitting on the city's informal infrastructure committee are calling on Northland residents to accept a local improvement tax as the best means possible of preserving their property values and their homes.

Amanda Mallon: Councillor says some residents have put a lot of work into their trailers. - NNSL file photo

"If we were to do this, and if the city were just to pay for it, the first thing that we would get is an increase in property values in Northland," said Coun. David Wind, adding if owners are unable to sell their properties now they would be better positioned if they accept the local improvement tax.

"It would be interesting to see on balance if the unit property owners in Northland would be better off going ahead and redoing infrastructure either through the city or themselves, or just letting it go."

The city is proposing a local improvement tax to cover the costs of borrowing up to $20 million to pay for water and sewer replacements.

The announced plan so far is for the city to borrow the money and then each resident would pay $455 per month for 25 years based on the full estimated cost of repairs.

Residents are currently paying $220 per month in condo fees, which goes toward park maintenance and repairs right now but isn't enough to cover the water and sewer line replacements.

Northland homeowners also pay property taxes on an average square-foot basis.

The improvement charge is subject to negotiations between the city and Yellowknife Condominium Corporation No. 8, which manages the park and would be holding a referendum among Northland owners needed to get approval.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said he expects the monthly infrastructure fee to be lower than $455 by the time negotiations are complete.

"Lower by an amount and we are working to get it lower still," said Van Tighem.

Coun. Amanda Mallon sits with Wind on the city infrastructure committee, which meets sporadically throughout the year to deal with issues that come up at Northland.

She says a number of residents have already put money into renovating their trailers and water and sewer line replacements would allow owners to put their trailers onto the market for the first time since the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) stopped insuring mortgages in April 2010.

This latter decision was made due to the infrastructure condition. Mallon says residents could recoup some of their renovation investments if the infrastructure needs are dealt with once and for all.

"There is a recognition that once the infrastructure is fixed and the CMHC has come back to the table, that for a lot of people it is going to be a solution," said Mallon. "They have put a lot of work into their trailers."

Mallon acknowledges there are fears among Yellowknife residents outside of Northland that they will be left paying the bill if trailer park owners don't approve the improvement charge but she argued council candidates in the 2009 municipal election were heavily questioned as to what they would do to support the trailer park and all agreed that something had to be done. She says the city has already put a lot of human resources efforts through engineers and accountants toward the park.

"But right now the structure that exists is a local improvement tax," she said. "If that works out it should work so that it doesn't impact on the general population."

The condominium corporation is holding an annual general meeting Feb. 7. Residents are not expected to vote on the improvement tax until a later date.

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