Council gives final nod to interest cut

Iqaluit council cut the city’s interest rate on unpaid property taxes by almost half without a word of the resistance that came with related motions in the past.

Under the interest rate approved at the April 27 meeting, residents who default on their municipal tax payments will now face a compound interest of 12.68 per cent per year instead of the earlier rate of 22 per cent, described as “criminal” and “crippling” by critics who suggested Iqaluit council was preventing deadbeats from getting out of debt.

Under the previous interest rate, residents were carrying debts reaching $175,000. The City of Iqaluit took three families to court, threatening to repossess the homes before payment plans were established and the court action was abandoned.

The new interest rate will take effect Jan. 1, 2005, and will not be retroactive.