Iqaluit budget meetings postponed

The city of Iqaluit cancelled its budget meetings, scheduled for Thursday and Friday this past week.

That means the city will likely enter a new fiscal year on Jan. 1 without a budget to guide its spending.

The meetings will be rescheduled for shortly after the Christmas holidays, said Ian Fremantle,the city’s chief administrative officer.

The city has requested a 30-day extension from the Government of Nunavut, whose legislation calls for municipal budgets to be submitted before the New Year.

But that hasn’t always happened in the past, said Fremantle, who has heard of past administrations filing new budgets as late as May. “And that’s not good,” he added.

Fremantle announced the cancellation just one day before budget meetings were to begin.

He said city staff hoped some issues holding them back could have been cleared up by then, such as two consultant reports the city is waiting to receive: one on the cost of repairing the sinking AWG arena, and another on the cost of a new municipal pool. But those meetings have been pushed ahead to next week.

“That kind of killed it,” he said.

Other issues include recently revised assessments on property taxes, which have added $88 million in value to property around the city. “That’s significant,” Fremantle said, explaining that would have to be factored into new mill rates.

Problems with new computer software and time needed to translate documents were other obstacles.