A six-percent property tax increase in 2025 was approved unanimously on Monday by Yellowknife city councillors after last week’s deliberations.
Four nights of discussion – and the arrival of a $600,000 carbon tax grant for which the city hadn’t budgeted – helped propel the initial eight-percent increase down to a 6.019-percent figure by the end of Thursday.
There was no further discussion of substance on Monday and no amendments were made as council rubber-stamped the final version of the city’s 2025 budget. Incremental increases to some municipal fees and charges were also approved.
You can catch up on the changes made in last week’s reporting.
The only councillor to speak about the budget on Monday was Ryan Fequet, who briefly addressed a loan forgiveness request from Folk on the Rocks.
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The Yellowknife music festival borrowed $200,000 from the city in 2018 to renovate its largest stage and has been paying that off over time. Over the past month, the festival has campaigned for the remaining debt of $60,000 to be written off so it could put the money toward renovation of the festival beer garden.
That request wasn’t approved during budget discussions.
Fequet, a former Folk on the Rocks president, said Folk should “reach out and work with the city directly” to discuss whether City Hall can find a way to support the festival’s ambitions.
In a quickfire council meeting, a range of other decisions formerly discussed in more detail were given unanimous approval.
An expansion of the Street Outreach program with an extra $270,000 in federal funding was rubber-stamped, as were a naming rights policy and a motion urging Ottawa to choose Yellowknife as a “strategic centre for enhanced security and military capability.”
Various NWT communities are hoping to receive major infrastructure investments as Canada pledges to more vigorously assert its Arctic sovereignty.
