Iqaluit recreational fees could jump as city looks to tackle debt

Hockey, curling and summer day camp could soon cost significantly more for Iqaluit residents as Nunavut's capital looks to dig itself out of a$9.4 million debt.

The City of Iqaluit got a glimpse of potential feeincreases at Tuesday night's council meeting.City staff were asked to look at rates and suggest increases.

"The recreation department is proposing fee increases for the majority of our fees," the city's recreation director Amy Elgersma told council.

The proposed increases were rolled into a new bylawlooking to consolidated all city fees from building permits to pet licenses in one place.

Potential increases include raising evening and weekend ice time fees for adults from $99 to $125. A new fee could seelocker room storage at the Arctic Winter Games arena cost$100 for the ice season and $60 for the turf season.

The recreation department is also recommending doubling the cost of itseight-week summer day camp, for children ages six to12, from $25 to $50 a week.

The city is also considering recreational subsidies for families who might struggle to afford the fees.

Curling increases

The department is also recommending changes to how the curling club pays the city for use of its arena.

Currently the curling club pays the city 70 per cent of the membership fees it collects and keeps the rest.

"That makes it more difficult for the city without a kind of guaranteed rate and our costs are fixed, whereas this variable percentage rate depends on their membership," Elgersmasaid.

• City of Iqaluit considers raising curling club's rent

The department is recommending a flat rate per season of $18,000.

City staff is also recommending adding an hourly rate for weekend use of the curling rink of $100 per hour for tournaments, known as bonspiels.

Staff is also suggesting charging a fee to rent a city facility to hold events.A licensed event at the AWG Arena for instance would come with a potential$200 price tag.

Vehicle fees

The proposed bylaw also recommends drastically raising the cost of trashing a vehicle at the city's landfill.

Residents who want to get rid of their car or truck can take it to the dump for a price.

The end-of-life vehicle fee is currently $200 for cars and trucks and $60 for a snowmobile. Staff is suggesting raising the rate to $1,000 for a car and $200 for a snowmobile.

"People are not going to be enticed to bring them to the landfill,"CouncillorTerryDobbinsaid at Tuesday's meeting. "They're just going to let them sit."

"The problem is just going to get larger and larger in my opinion."

Council voted to defer the consolidated fees bylaw and send the proposed fee increases back to city staff before making a decision.