Iqaluit property owners owe $3.1M in unpaid taxes

The owners of 72 homes and businessesin Iqaluitnow owe a total of $3,127,144 to city hall in unpaid property tax andinterestthat hasaccumulated on the debt.

That's double the $1.5 million Iqaluitproperty ownersowed in 2009, andnearly the same amount currentlyowed in property tax arrears for the rest ofNunavutcombined.

This year's list, published recently in this newspaper ad, includespeople whoowe more than $500 in property tax arrears and has72 properties on it.

John Mabberi-Mudonyi,director of corporate services for the City of Iqaluit, sayshis two-person department is not equipped to collect onoutstanding property tax.

"We publish this [list], first of all because it is a requirement of the act," he said.

"As to whether it makes people come and pay their taxes,I have no answer for that one. But again we just follow what the act dictates to us and that's why we keep doing this every year."

Mabberi-Mudonyisaidnew policies and powers when it comes to collecting property tax maybe coming this fall, all part of municipal restructuring.

Until then heis appealing toIqaluitresidents' sense of communityto encourage them to pay what the city says they owe.

"I mean you drive around town and you see how things are," he said.

"We need money to fix this aging infrastructure and collecting the $3 millionwould go a long way to help us fix some of the problems we have."

Yellowknife's arrears at $200,000

Meanwhile the Northwest Territories' capital ofYellowknife, with a populationnearlytriple that of Iqaluit,hadtotal property tax arrears of$200,000 in 2014.

Yellowknife's manager of budgeting and taxation Christine Siu says the city hasa clear and effective collectionprocess.

"There is a two-year cycle," she said."First year, all the parties will get notice about tax arrears and they are given a deadline to pay the outstanding.

"And then, second year, you follow a similar process with letters and an ad in the newspaper and then finally the property will be auctioned if it's not paid for."

This summer the City of Yellowknifeauctionedoff two houses for tax arrears.

Siu said the city's collection process is in accordance withthe Northwest TerritoriesProperty Assessment and Taxation Act.

It formed the basis forNunavut'sproperty taxation act.