From dog parks to bike lanes, city considers budget requests

Dozens of Yellowknife residents and groups have provided input to councillors on what they hope to see in the next municipal budget.

City Hall gave residents a window of July 17 to August 16 to submit proposals for the 2025 budget.

Twenty-six people and organizations responded, submitting a total of 41 proposals.

Among the most popular ideas put forward were a new dog park, bike lanes, extension of the Frame Lake trail and additional swimming lessons.

Mayor Rebecca Alty said it was the most engagement the city had received on a budget “in a while.”

“There’s a lot of thoughtful submissions. I appreciate how people tried to calculate how much their project would cost and whether they would support a tax increase or not,” she said.

It’s unlikely, however, that all those requests will make it into the final budget.

Some items already in draft budget

Kavi Pandoo, the city’s director of corporate services, said accepting all of the submissions would result in an estimated tax increase of more than 9.8 percent.

Pandoo said some of the requests are already being considered in the draft budget, which will be released to the public on November 12.

Requests that were already in the budget include hiring additional lifeguards and swim instructors at the new aquatic centre, resurfacing tennis and pickleball courts, and increasing safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

Suggestions that do not fall under the city’s current 2025 work plan – but that Pandoo said could be considered in future budgets, in 2026 or 2027 – include a new dog park, introducing a new snow removal method, removing a lamp post from Forrest Drive park, and funding a welcome sign for Tin Can Hill.

Beyond residents’ requests, Pandoo noted there are other costly items that need to be included in the upcoming budget to support essential services.

He said, for example, the estimated cost for a new lift station had increased from $6 million pre-Covid to more than $40 million.

“We are getting less work done for the same budgets from 10 years ago. Regulatory requirements are increasing and becoming more budget-intensive,” he said.

‘Back to basics’

City councillors will ultimately have to decide which additional items will make the final cut when they deliberate the budget later this year.

Mayor Alty and councillors Garett Cochrane and Steve Payne said on Monday they were opposed to adding any new projects at this time.

“The reality of the ballooning price for our infrastructure projects and things that we actually really, really need is a bit… you know it wakes you up in the morning,” Payne said.

“I think we really need to get back to basics with our budgeting.”

Other councillors expressed support for some additional requests.

Tom McLennan said he was in favour of trialling bike lanes and funding art walks outside schools, as well as improved winter maintenance of active transport infrastructure.

Councillors are expected to begin deliberating the budget on December 2.