Yukon municipal council term could be extended to four years

The Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) met in-person for the first time in two years over the weekend, adopting three resolutions focusing on electricity, COVID-19 relief funds and extending the term for municipal councils.

The AYC attempts to provide a united approach to community ambitions and has the ability to take local issues to a national level. 

In previous years, they've focused on topics such as scrapping daylight saving in the territory. 

The AYC is made up of 44 Yukon municipalities elected officials and two staff members.

During the 47th annual general meeting, AYC members approved the association's financial statements which indicated a $34,119 dollar surplus "mostly due to lack of travel," said Laura Eby when presenting the draft.

The AYC's policy states 20 per cent of the surplus will be added to the association's contingency reserve, said Eby, who is AYC's executive director. However, members voted to include the whole surplus amount to the reserve.

An audit will also be done for this year.

During the meeting, members also talked about the troubles faced in the territory as a result of the pandemic and possible resolutions to offset the financial burden from the past two years.

Four-year term

The City of Whitehorse put forward a resolution to extend the term for municipal councils from three years to four, which passed. 

The resolution also asked for input from citizens on term lengths.

Whitehorse Coun. Kirk Cameron said four-year terms are a trend across the country, but would be most effective in the smaller communities.

"From my way of thinking, this is a step forward for all of us. It gives us that connection to an additional year, to get our priorities set," Cameron said.

However, not everyone agreed.

"For me, it's too long," said Juanita Kremer, councillor for the Village of Teslin, who said she would rather re-run after a successful term than commit to raising her children through a four-year term.

A four-year term would be financially beneficial for municipalities as it would delay hosting an election for an additional year, saving taxpayers money, said Lee Bodie, mayor of the Village of Carmacks.

Utility charges

The AYC will urge the Yukon government to mandate the Yukon Energy Corporation — a publicly owned electrical utility that operates arm's length from the territorial government — to change its rate policy to only charge municipalities an actual utility rate, and to discontinue charging municipalities demand charges. 

That resolution was brought up by the Village of Mayo, and passed unanimously.

Blair Andre, one of Mayo's councillors, said many municipalities are concerned with the increasing costs of utilities.

"I was never even aware, until a few years ago, about what we pay for electricity, and I was just kind of shocked," Andre said.

Once a building hits a high demand threshold, even for one day, the building will be charged for the highest day rate on its monthly bill, he said.

"That peak is the cap of the consumption, and that demand charge could be 30 per cent of the bill," said Jack Bowers, mayor of the Town of Faro. "We are being squished here."

The Yukon government promotes the use of electricity for heating across the territory.

While Yukon Energy has not updated its rate schedule in 11 years, it has implemented new rates that are calculated on demand usage.

More consultation 

The third and final resolution, also brought up by the City of Whitehorse, called upon the territorial government to consult each municipality when establishing financial relief programs.

Yukon municipalities have been impacted by unanticipated expenses to enforce public health restrictions, all while experiencing a loss of revenue due to the pandemic, said Whitehorse Coun. Ted Laking.

It's important to find solutions to offset the financial burden from the past two years, he said.

"We don't necessarily want to increase fees or taxes on our tax base, so I think it's worth it to help address some of the cost," he said. 

Richard Mostyn, Yukon's minister of Community Services, sent an email to AYC president Gord Curran asking each municipality to provide specific numbers on their broader budgets around their financial needs.