Iqaluit city council eyes hike in fees to better reflect costs

An $800 hike in the cost of disposing your vehicle. Double the cost for an after-hours call for water or sewage services. Iqaluit city councillors are looking at boosting fees for a broad range of products, programs or services as it continues tostrugglewith a hefty deficit.

The Consolidated Fees and Charges Bylaw, which brings together 26 pages of fees from different departments while proposing increases to many of them, passed second reading at this week'scity council meeting.

To come into effect it will need topass a third reading at a future council meeting.

More water woes?

One of the most contentious fee hikes is the doubling of the cost forafter-hours callsfor sewage or water services.

Right now, the city charges $250 for a call out.

While the boost to $500 might seem like a significant leap, Matthew Hamp, the city's director of public works, says every time a truck gets sent out after hours, it costs Iqaluit $779.08.

For the past year, Iqaluit has been struggling to find a way to bring its expenses for trucked services under control.

A program which saw a cut to Wednesday trucked water services reportedly saved the city nearly $62,000, but was scrapped by council amid a public outcry.

Cost for scrapping vehicles up

Another controversial proposal is the boosting of the fee for residents to dispose of their vehicles which could be five times more expensive if the bylaw is passed as written.

Right now, if you want to drop off your car or truck at Iqaluit's landfill it will cost you $200. If city administration gets its way, that will go up to $1,000.

Hamp says that will just put the fee in line with the actual cost for the city to prepare the vehicles and ship them south. Before the vehicles can be packed into a shipping container for travel, fluids and airbags need to be removed so they can be safely crushed.

Several councillors expressed concerns that this would encourage residents to abandon derelict vehiclesinstead of properly disposing of them, an issue Iqaluit has struggled with for years.

Mayor Madeleine Redfern says one solution would be to collect the fee from owners when theyship their vehicle to Nunavutan idea the Government of Nunavutis alsoconsidering in its review of the Motor Vehicle Act.