On the first of up to four days of 2026 budget deliberations, Yellowknife city council made cuts worth $735,000 involving Somba K’e parking lot paving, tennis court repairs and repurposing the old swimming pool building.
Councillors are spending this week going through the 2026 municipal budget line by line, looking for savings.
The city’s draft budget, released last month, projected a seven-percent property tax increase for Yellowknifers.
Because of some small changes to line items for wages and user fees, plus a $413,000 transfer to the city from the NWT government’s carbon tax that was only confirmed in mid-November, the expected property tax increase had dropped to 5.83 percent by Monday – even before council started taking a red pen to next year’s spending plans.
$265,000 to pave a gravel parking lot next to Somba K’e Park was scrapped unanimously as council decided it wasn’t needed.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
$200,000 in cash to explore repurposing the old Ruth Inch Memorial Pool building was also cut. The city will instead use existing funds to have a broader conversation about what to do with municipal facilities.
“We need to sell this or tear it down or something,” councillor Steve Payne said of the Ruth Inch building, which was recently replaced by a newer $70-million aquatic centre.
“I think the public or some person or private business could probably take this over better than we can,” said Payne.
City manager Stephen Van Dine said: “Public-private partnership, co-location, selling the asset for another purpose – those are all things that will be considered once we go out and invite someone to shop these ideas around.”
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Council also voted to save $100,000 by repairing just one tennis court in 2026 instead of two.
Some councillors said they wanted a bigger discussion about how much responsibility user groups like the tennis club should take for that kind of spending on infrastructure, noting that different sports currently have different arrangements with City Hall.
The city remains committed to repairing two more tennis courts in 2027 as things stand, at a cost of $200,000 that year, but that may change depending on the outcome of that discussion.
$170,000 in extra chlorine safety equipment for the new pool was also deleted. While it would be an upgrade, city staff said the existing equipment could suffice.
An attempt by Payne to remove $350,000 in spending on a snowblower attachment for a loader, to improve snow removal from city streets, was defeated by his colleagues.
There is still plenty of the budget left to cover in the remaining days of discussion.
Council spent time on Monday discussing whether to dial back plans to repair and then upgrade the steps leading up to Pilots’ Monument, a hill affording great views of Yellowknife that is a big tourism draw.
The steps were hit by a truck earlier this year. An inspection following that incident concluded various repairs are needed, while City Hall also has ambitions to make the attraction more accessible.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars could be saved if council decides not to green-light the full project, but discussion of that item remains ongoing. A decision is likely on Tuesday evening.
The final budget for 2026 should be approved later this week.
