IQALUIT
Iqaluit's finance committee chairperson quit March 21 after failing to convince fellow councillors to reduce spending. Instead, council remains firm on increasing taxes in the city.
"There is a major disconnect with the people of Iqaluit," councillor Kenny Bell explained in the days following a day-long effort March 21 to determine ways to reduce a proposed mill rate increase. "It was the biggest waste of time I've ever seen. This committee and the members who are also on council have lost track of reality. It's a sad time for Iqaluit. Our council clearly doesn't care as they always vote for the bells and whistles and never give up anything."
Deputy mayor Romeyn Stevenson said last week, ahead of the budget conference, that all items in the budget were essential to the city's stability. The committee, on which all councillors sit, agreed.
"There were some suggestions for cutting some things out of the budget," Stevenson said. "But in the end it was decided it was better to go forward with the budget the way it was. We had to find the solution in the mill rate. In the end, we decided the best way to go forward was to raise (single-family) residential a little bit higher and lower the commercial a little bit as well."
Bell proposed cutting $850,000 of spending on a metal crusher and a road repair in Apex. The motion failed.
He proposed another motion to stop any municipal hiring not already in process. This motion passed.
Another motion, to remove city vehicles from staff who drive them for personal use, came after Bell was unable to get administration to provide details of how much mileage and gas staff were using on city vehicles.
He hoped to find waste, but Mayor Mary Wilman told Bell it wasn't for council to pursue, as such operational issues should be handled by acting chief administrative officer John Mabberi-Mudonyi.
Bell's vehicle motion failed, but the issue was the trigger for Bell's resignation from the finance committee.
"Administration and the mayor refused me information I needed to make informed decisions," he said, telling the mayor that "since I am denied the information to help fix this mess I don't want to be a part of the team."
Bell did reveal Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce president - and city auditor - Shawn Lester's predictions that the city was heading for an untenable $10-million deficit were almost spot on, with last year's deficit at $5.9 million and a projected deficit of $3.5 million this year.
The meeting happened after the creation of the March 24 council meeting agenda, so the first reading of the budget bylaw is set for April 14, and a potential third reading for final approval would be April 28.
