SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City councillor Linda Bussey gave a new breath of life to a proposal that could one day see territorial municipalities, including Yellowknife, use a local improvement charge to fund green retrofitting projects by private homeowners.
The issue was revived during Tuesday's municipal services committee meeting for further discussion even though it had been shot down in the regular meeting last week.
The issue is one of three that the city is planning to present at the NWT Association of Communities' (NWTAC) annual general meeting in May for a broader discussion with the 32 member communities in the NWT. The other two involve regulating massage therapy and a review of the territorial Property Assessment and Taxation Act and grants-in-lieu of property taxes policy.
The deadline to submit resolutions is next Tuesday. If it is approved Monday night, it could be put on the NWTAC general meeting agenda Tuesday.
"When you give a fair scan of what is going on across the country with local improvement charges, I think it is important we put it on the table," said Bussey. "I'm not saying it is a program that will be up and running in the next 12 months. But I think we need to bring it forward to discuss and work in collaboration with the other communities."
The majority of council now sees the issue as being a discussion point to be had at the general meeting since most agree it would take many years before it could ever be actually implemented.
How some supporters envision it is that the owner of an older home which does not meet Energuide 80 standards could apply to the city for help from a money-matching loan program which the homeowner would pay back on their tax bill over a long period of time.
"What I like about it is that it allows us to have a discussion without asking administration to do years and years of work and then find out that we don't have the legislative ability to do it anyway and wasted admin time," said Coun. Brooks. "There are too many things in their job jar as it is."
Dissenting councillors Adrian Bell, Niels Konge and Phil Moon Son feel that the pro-improvement tax councillors are misrepresenting what is being proposed and are lacking enough details to move ahead.
Bell said there are parts of having a local improvement charge that he liked, but he compared how the city is going about it to the now defunct Con Mine geothermal project, saying the city is making plans without providing details.
He added it might be better to plan for adding it to next year's AGM.
"I'm not in support of it," said Konge. "We are trying to get another level of government to do something for us and we have other tools in our toolboxes like rezoning land so that you can put multi-family in there."
He said the idea gives "false hope" to homeowners in older homes at Northland Trailer Park or downtown.
"People are going to get $20,000 from a loan that will be paid on their taxes and they will think after the work is done that their house is going to be worth $20,000 more," said Konge.
"I have seen time and time again that that is not the case. Renovations should be done for comfort. You don't see the same dollars you sink into a house at the other end when you talk about old housing."
Konge called the idea "a pink elephant" and criticized Brooks, who said he had asked the NWTAC within the last week if it is OK that a third resolution could come forward at the last minute.
"Yeah, councillor Konge is not happy that councillor Brooks continues to speak for council," said Konge on Wednesday. "He does not speak for me. I am very capable of speaking for myself and for the people I believe that I represent. I do not need councillor Brooks doing that for me and it is not the first time he has done that."
Coun. Dan Wong, who is the chairperson of the community energy planning committee, said after the meeting he was pleased to see that council may initiate something that could save residents a lot of money on their houses.
"There are a lot of details to hammer out obviously at this point but it was a good informed discussion," Wong said. "It is really crucial that this move forward and it is with great hope that we can have success (at the AGM)."
