Iqaluit will be deficit-free in 2019, says mayor

Quvianaq! The City of Iqaluit says it can look forward to being deficit-free in 2019.

“Our 2018 audited financial statements clearly show that the hard work of our employees, directed by strong leadership in council, is bringing the city’s finances back on track,” Mayor Madeleine Redfern said in a news release.

At the April 23 council meeting, Redfern and councillors accepted and approved the city’s audited financial statements as presented by Coun. Kyle Sheppard, who chairs the finance committee.

Sheppard said that “through tough choices and prudent fiscal planning in 2018, the city came very close to being deficit free in 2018.”

Coun. Kyle Sheppard, chair of Iqaluit city council’s finance committee, reads out the details of the 2019 city operating budget and capital spending plan last November. Important changes included increases to sanitation rates and property taxes, and a reduction in the water subsidy. (File photo)

The sanitation fund deficit in 2018 was $76,280 compared to $1,564,614 in 2017, while the water and sewer fund deficit was also reduced in 2018 to $592,000 from $2,350,883 in 2017.

“With the increases in sanitation rates, and the phased decreases in the residential water subsidy, the city will achieve its goal of being deficit free in 2019,” he said.

“This is a huge accomplishment and will enable the city to fund the much-needed improvements of services and infrastructure.”

In the current budget, adopted last November, ratepayers saw an increase of five per cent in their property taxes.

That money constitutes one of the largest sources of revenue going into the city’s general fund, which pays for things like public works, roads, emergency services, recreation and municipal enforcement.

Also included in the new budget was a gradual decrease in the residential water subsidy rate.

That subsidy, equivalent to 0.013 cents per litre, will go down to zero within three years.

Residential users are now also paying higher sanitation rates of about $12 a month to cover the cost of garbage services, in order to bring that fund out of deficit and improve service, Sheppard said when he introduced the 2019 budget last November.