Iqaluit business community says proposed tax hikes unacceptable

The Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce is suggesting ways for city council to stop a major tax hike on commercial properties.

In December, city council passed its 2015 budget with a 24 per cent increase in tax revenue from commercial or industrial properties.

The chamber says businesses carry the brunt of the tax load. It sent a letter to council last week pointing to a projected city deficit of more than 10 million dollars by the end of 2015.

The letter asks the city to defer any mill rate decision until the city has a plan to manage its debt.

The Chamber accused the city of abusing the Cities, Towns, and Villages Act by ringing up a such a big deficit.

It also says abuse of the Act may open the door for the Nunavut Government to put the city under administration similar to it was in the early 1990s.

The territorial government managed Iqaluit 1993 and 1994.

Cam McGregor, an Iqaluit business owner, says he's lived in communities down south that were crippled by bad budgeting and inadequate planning.

You don't want to live in those communities. And we're looking here at the possibility of terrific danger to the long term health of Iqaluit.

Stuart Kennedy, of the Tumiit Development Corporation, says the tax on one of his commercial properties jumped by 64 per cent and another by 57 per cent. He doesn't know when it will end.

We have no assurance that we can operate and can continue to operate. It just gets scarier, he said.

Kennedy, who is a member of the Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce, says for one apartment building he co-owns the tax went up $42 per unit, per month for two-bedroom apartments. At another building it was even more, $60 dollars per unit per month.

He says hell have to raise the rents to cover the property taxes.

In residential when we develop new leases we have to play catchup and ask for more money on the next lease.

The tax bylaw hasn't been brought forward for a first reading yet.The Chamber's letter is expected to be on the agenda for Tuesday's council meeting.

On mobile? Click here to read the letter to city council from the Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce