Council busy explaining that it's all because of GN agreement

Property taxes in Iqaluit are going up 2.5 per cent this year, and city councillors are going out of their way to explain to ratepayers that it's not their doing.

The tax increase is required as part of a five-year capital funding arrangement with the Government of Nunavut. That agreement expires this year.

Coun. Glenn Williams said the city must also pay increasingly more money for fuel and wages.

"We've absorbed substantial increases in operations," he said. "Ratepayers are not seeing those increases reflected in their taxes."

The increase varies depending on property value, but a house listed for sale at $375,000 will see its bill rise by a little over $200 a year. The tax rate for single-family residential homes is $21.55 per thousand dollars of assessed value.

Councillors also renewed the tax waiver for elders over 65 and the disabled. The city actually does better by this exemption because the Government of Nunavut now pays the city the full value of the exempt tax bill. The GN used to reimburse the city only half of that amount.

The city passed its budget in January but had to wait until the Government of Nunavut completed its property assessments for the year. Iqaluit's assessment roll-the total value of all property in the city-stands at $323 million.

Institutions have the highest tax rate at $44.09 per $1,000.

But the biggest institutional property owners don't pay full fare. The GN, for example, is the single largest city ratepayer and is forecast to fork over more than $1.9 million to the city this year. But the GN pays what's known as a grant in lieu of taxes, a figure that's usually lower than what it would actually owe in taxes.

The city expects to collect more than $750,000 in grants in lieu from the federal government in 2007.