Iqaluit council wants administrators to fix errors in proposed fee bylaw

Iqaluit CFO John Mabberi-Mudonyi and emergency services director Luc Grandmaison listen July 26 at the Iqaluit city council meeting about the Consolidated Fee Bylaw. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

Attempts by the City of Iqaluit to pass its omnibus fee bylaw again ended in confusion between city council and administration, as councillors sought to clarify typos and omissions in the proposed bylaw at a July 26 council meeting.

The “Consolidated Fees Bylaw” — merging all city fees into one accessible document — had already been sent back once before, April 13, for clarification.

During that April meeting, councillors asked administrators to include the city’s current fees alongside the bylaw’s proposed fee increases.

Councillors ultimately passed the law’s second reading at its return to council chambers July 26, but they included a final warning for administrators to fix the remaining errors before the third and final reading.

“Whatever time that takes to make sure that, when we sit here the next time, there’s no embarrassing [corrections],” Iqaluit’s deputy mayor, Romeyn Stevenson, told city directors and administration staff who attended that council meeting.

Several typos were discovered by councillors as they questioned city staff on proposed changes to municipal fees.

Public Works proposed to raise the city’s fee for after-hour calls for service from $250 to $500, but failed to include the adjusted fee in the bylaw’s official listing.

And Iqaluit’s director of planning, Mélodie Simard, told councillors that some of her department’s fees on the bylaw’s main listing did not reflect fee formulas used in supporting documents.

Then emergency services director, Luc Grandmaison, noted typos listed in his department’s fees for fire services.

“There’s three directors and three typos so far,” noted Stevenson, “In the end, this bylaw has to be correct, so could we just ensure in the period between now and next meeting that there are no more typos.”

Several of the fees included in the bylaw have been increased to reflect current operating expenses by the city.

One of the more dramatic proposals in the bylaw increases the city’s “tipping fee” for car disposal from $200 to $1,000.

Mayor Madeleine Redfern asked if that fee could be implemented in a way that didn’t act as a deterrent for Iqaluit residents to dispose of their vehicles.

“My concern is that trying to charge at the back-end might result in more vehicle dumping,” she said, noting reports from the Iqaluit Housing Authority that as many as 30 vehicles are currently abandoned without owners on IHA properties.

“A lot of places that are rural or remote, like Greenland, the charges are imposed at the front-end when people are importing… [so] you don’t have to worry about vehicles abandoned on the beach or in other parts of the community, which is currently happening,” she said.

The city’s public works director, Matthew Hamp, said he discussed the issue with officials at Nunavut’s Department of Economic Development and Transportation, but said any solution from that avenue is still a long way away.

“That department is working on some legislation to that effect, but it wouldn’t even be presented at the legislature until the fall,” he said, adding that any new proposals would still have to develop regulations before final legislation is passed.

Hamp said the proposed $1,000 still represents a subsidy from the city, but comes closer to covering the cost of preparing vehicles for the scrap heap.

“Right now our fee of $200 doesn’t cover that,” he told council.

Hamp also defended his department’s decision to increase the rate for after-hours service calls by city vehicles from $250 to $500, saying that the actual costs for service exceeds even that.

“The reason why we put $500 is it was a little easier to digest… What it actually costs for a call out, after hours, is $779,” he said.

Coun. Kuthula Matshazi suggested to council that the city should embark on an education campaign for residents once the new fees are implemented.

Other proposed rate increases of note in the city’s consolidated fees bylaw include:

• residential monthly garbage pick-up i from $27.50 per month to $35;

• snowmobile and oil tank disposal fees to $200, up from $60 and $50 respectively;

• tire disposal to $75, up from the current rate of $15, and;

• variance requests to the city from $250 to $500.

Iqaluit city council will meet again Aug. 9.