Iqaluit homeowners to see property tax rise by 7%

With one week to go before people ring in the New Year, Iqaluit City Council passed its budget for 2015, but the city says rising costs have forced it to raise property taxes by about seven per cent for homeowners and closer to 24 per cent for commercial and industrial properties.

"I think we got the best budget we're going to get in a difficult financial time for this city," says Stephen Mansell, a councillor and chair of the finance committee.

"We did the best we could to keep the raise in residential reasonable. It's a bit more for industrial. But we passed a conservative budget to keep the increase as low as we could."

Acting chief administrative officer John Mabberi-Mudonyi says several costs are driving the budget up.

"For one thing that is obvious, increased wages. We have about a 7% increase in the power rates. We have about 5% increase in fuel. Iqaluit is growing. We require more staff."

For that reason, the city says it was forced to increase the amount of property tax collected by about 24 per cent.

But councillors say they didn't want to overburden regular homeowners, so they limited the increase in that category to about seven per cent.

Despite that, the city's general fund will be coming in at a deficit of just over $4.2 million.

Taxi fares going up

Councillors also approved a hike in taxi fare — from $6 to $7 — at last night’s council meeting,

The price for elders — 60 years and older — continues to be $5 per person.

But you might not have to pay out that extra dollar right away.

Taxi companies in the city say they are waiting to hear from city officials to find out exactly when the increase takes effect.

The last time that the fares increased was in 2007.