EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
When the review was completed, there were a number of communities that were over funded. The decision at the time when this funding formula was approved, we would red circle any communities that were over-funded and would not see an increase in their rates until they moved into a deficit funding arrangement.
Any community that was under-funded did see an increase to bring them up with the levels of revenue that was indicated in the review.
In communities where you give an increase to the amount of revenue that they would receive, say for example, this year with the price of fuel going up, was that taken into consideration for this year’s amount of funding that was being provided to communities?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Again, if I may.
We did not adjust the municipal funding formula this year for the increase in fuel costs for municipalities because that the last time that the fuel prices were decreased, there was no downward adjustments to the municipalities’ budgets.
One final question on a different topic.
Your department’s proposed budget for community transfer initiatives is decreasing from $2.083 million down to $1.37 million. What accounts for this decrease?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) if I may, I would like to ask my director of finance.
There was a decrease of $713,000. That is attributable to two communities; Cape Dorset and Pangnirtung.
They gave up their CMA funding, or community transfer initiative funding. CGS has taken those responsibilities and by doing so, adopted four TUIs. So that program is being administered by CGS directly, presently.
Questions on page J-5?
(interpretation) Questions?
My question is in regard to community [sustainability] plans. Which communities have up-to-date community [sustainability] plans and which don’t?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) As far as my department is concerned, all the communities have the plans in place. (interpretation) Thank you.
In regard to community development, how often does CGS visit hamlets and their communities to develop capacity and what methods are used to do that?
Chairman (Mr. Mikkungwak)(interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) Hon. Minister Sammurtok.
We’re now starting to deal with our staff frequenting the communities. (interpretation ends) I have been in discussions with my department that we would like to see more of our staff visiting the municipalities so that they can provide support and advice to our municipal governments. I am expecting that you will see my department staff out there more often. (interpretation) Thank you.
Thanks for the answer, but it makes me wonder what kind of involvement you’ve had in the past. If this is a new thing, what have you done in the past to help communities operate their services?
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) Hon. Minister Sammurtok.
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) If I may, I’ll defer that answer to my deputy minister.
Most of our contact with communities in terms of consultation after they have identified their needs has been through the sustainability coordinator that CGS recruited.
The sustainability coordinator’s responsibility is to work with the municipalities to see what their priorities are under their integrated sustainability plans and, at the same time, to work municipalities to see what their operating requirements are as well.
Over the past year, I personally have visited a number of municipalities and council meetings myself, and the general consensus that I got from the municipalities is that CGS presence in those communities was not appropriate. We needed to spend more time in there.
What I have done this year with our Community Support Branch is request to them that they must visit the communities at least twice a year to meet with councils so that we understand what their concerns are and so that we can appropriately address those concerns.
Going forward, we certainly be having a greater presence in our communities compared to prior years.
In keeping with that line of thought, we have often heard that municipalities get into huge deficits and I have often wondered how they get to that point before anybody really does anything about it.
Do you think that having more visitations to communities and that could address some of those challenges that municipalities face?
Some municipalities get into deficit situations at times due to lack of financial management capabilities. As we stated earlier on, starting now, we will be visiting the communities more frequently to get a clearer understanding if they’re operating within their means. (interpretation ends) There are a variety of factors that impact on the financial situations of a lot of the municipalities.
In some cases, it’s just bad accounting. In other cases maybe there was incompetence at the community-level.
To a large extent, as a department, we want to correct all of these things.
We will be working more closely with the municipalities to deal with these issues. (interpretation) Thank you.
How many municipalities are in a deficit position right now?
Chairman: Mr. Sammurtok.
What range is there in the amount of deficit?
I don’t want specific, but what is the general range of the deficit?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) It ranges anywhere from 250,000 to 2,000,000. (interpretation) Thank you.
Ms. Angnakak: When you get a municipality that’s at a deficit of $2 million, what immediate steps does Community and Government Services take to help that municipality gain control over the escalating deficit?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) If I may, I’ll defer that answer to Mr. Green.
In situations where we find that municipalities are into a deficit we do send in our monitoring and evaluation staff whom provide oversight on reviewing the municipal financial statements and basically we work with the hamlet to develop a debt recovery plan.
We provide support so that they can recover those deficits over a period of approximately three years.
I’m going on now to technical professional studies program.
It’s interesting to see that you have a bursary and I’m wondering how do you promote or advertise that you have a bursary and how does one apply for it?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok: Chairman, if I may, I’ll have Mr. Moyo respond to that.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. Mr. Moyo.
Yes we a have bursary program, a technical studies program, with about $80,000 every year and we advertise it twice a year depending on whether there’s still money in the pot.
Generally, twice a year in two northern newspapers to make sure that we make it as publicly available as possible.
In addition to that, our staff also communicates with colleges, the Nunavut Arctic College, to make sure that that program in particular is available to those attending within Nunavut, as well as high schools for final year students.
I am wondering if you usually expend all the money there.
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) Yes we do.
Just going on. Your senior citizen and disabled persons tax relief, where you provide tax relief for senior citizens and disabled persons residing within the municipal tax authorities.
How many senior citizens apply for this program and how many disabled people apply for this program?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Unfortunately, we don’t have the stats with the information on this. However, we can get that information for you.
Can you elaborate a little on how this program works?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) If I may, I will defer to Mr. Green.
Chairman: Thank you. Mr. Green.
Basically, we typically get requests from individuals that seek support from the department to assist them with their municipal taxes, then, basically, we review the program. If they’re eligible, then we pay for the municipal taxes on their behalf.
Ms. Angnakak: The Nunavut Leadership Forum funding where you facilitate community leadership meetings. Can you elaborate on what these meetings entail?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) This involves newly elected majors and council members. (interpretation) Thank you.
Ms. Angnakak: Consumer Affairs. It says here that you provide consumer protection services, lottery and business licenses. Can you give us an example of how these funds would be used?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I’ll defer to my deputy minister.
The $850,000 is used to provide training initiatives to the local fire departments, which is partially funded through the Municipal Training Organization.
In regard to municipal funding policy the amounts haven’t changed very much since last year. I am wondering if you feel that the amounts are adequate to meet the needs of municipalities.
I will defer the question to my deputy minister.
Firstly I want to apologize to the member about the response that I gave to her for the Community Asset Protection Program.
Actually, this $850,000 is used to help support the NAMIX insurance program. It’s an annual contribution that the GN provides back to NAMIX to assist municipalities in that insurance program.
With respect to the municipal funding policy, the forced growth note that’s identified in there was based on the review that was done in 2012.
They looked at the consumer price index and they determined what the funding requirements would be over a three-year period.
As we mentioned earlier, this program will become under review prior to one year before it expires.
Our intent is to take a look at that formula to make sure that we look at it from a sustainability point of view. It not only will be looking at providing funding to municipalities for their overall general operations within the community, but it will also be looking at the lifecycle requirements to maintain their buildings going forward.
Moving forward, we will be doing a very comprehensive review of this policy again because there have been some concerns raised that the existing formula is not adequate to meet the program needs of the municipalities.
Given that we’ve had a number of community deficits this time, it probably triggers a point that we would need to re-examine that formula to make sure that we’re working towards sustainable communities.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you very much, Mr. Green.
One of the things that come to mind when I see the Municipal Funding Policy is, for example, the water rates they charge public housing units because they charge public housing units commercial rates, which, of course, makes the O&M for public housing units pretty high. I’m wondering: what kind of dialogue have you had with municipalities regarding this issue, as an example?
For a proper response to the question, I would like my deputy minister to respond.
We have been in discussions with the Nunavut Housing Corporation because they raised concerns about the high cost of water for public housing. It has to be noted that the highest consumption of water within the territory is for the public houses.
Having said that, we have agreed that, some time in this new fiscal year, we would take a look at the water and waste funding program to look at a long-term sustainability plan.
We will be doing a review of the subsidy program for all of our communities to determine what would be fair to the different consumers who pay for the user costs for this service.
When we talk about community transfer initiatives, the transfer of responsibilities, functions, and stuff like that, I guess I was under the impression that the departments also have their own funding agreements with municipalities.
Hon. Tom Sammurtok: Yes, we do have agreements with the municipalities. (interpretation) Thank you.
I was trying to get clarification. Do the other departments other than CGS also have their own funding agreements within the GN?
If I may, I’ll ask if you could have Mr. Green respond to that.
Yes, the community transfer initiative does take in the maintenance and some programs that the municipalities do run on behalf of some of the other GN departments.
There are some outreach services they provide from Justice and Health and Social Services and other minor programs.
In speaking about the transfer initiatives, what have you found to be the biggest challenge for communities and municipalities to do on the government’s behalf? What kind of service… ? More and more municipalities are turning services back to the government that they originally did on their behalf.
I’m just wondering if you can elaborate a little bit about that.
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Basically it has to do with capacity and being able to get the job done. (interpretation) Thank you.
Ms. Angnakak: Going to something totally different. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I see that the department was heavily involved with the 2014 Arctic Winter Games.
Can you tell us how much money was spent on the Arctic Winter Games and how many Nunavummiut participated?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) We don’t have that information right up front, but we will get it for the member. (interpretation) Thank you.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) If I may, can you make copies for all members?
Appreciated. Thank you. Ms. Angnakak.
This is my last question on J-5.
I see that part of the work is going to be to “Prepare and develop a work plan for the Land Referendum…” Will the department have the capacity and support to carry out the responsibilities to actually implement this referendum?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok: Yes, we do and we will.
I think my colleague covered most of the questions I was going to ask.
I would like to take a little step further from the Senior Citizen and Disabled Persons Tax Relief. Is it my understanding that it’s just within the municipal tax authorities, not within the city of Iqaluit?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) That is correct.
Mr. Hickes, apparently that is correct.
I don’t see any other programs to deal with senior citizens and disabled people here in Iqaluit, yet there are still people who do have property tax commitments with the City of Iqaluit.
Is there funding for a city program for tax relief?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) If you’re willing to give us a bit of time, we can get that information for you.
Chairman: Minister Sammurtok, if we give you how much time? One minute or two minutes or a couple of days? Are you suggesting you’re going to get back to the member with that information?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) Yes, we will get back to the member with the information.
Chairman: Thank you for the clarification and we shall have that information.
Continue, Mr. Hickes.
Also on the next page of the business plan under the Grant in Lieu of Taxes, it talks about “fair compensation to tax-based municipal governments for municipal services provided to the GN.” As Iqaluit is the only tax-based municipality in Nunavut, I’m assuming that all that funding goes to the City of Iqaluit.
I noted with some interest that it increased by about $400,000 a couple of years ago.
The city itself and the infrastructure that has been built in the city of Iqaluit over the past number of years have been quite substantial.
I also noted with interest that there is no increased funding proposed in ongoing fiscal years.
Is that something that is going to be reviewed on an as-used basis or can the minister maybe give me a little education on how that’s calculated and how that’s going to be calculated ongoing?
If I may, I’ll defer that question, (interpretation ends) Mr. Chairman, to my deputy minister.
The grant in lieu of taxes is something that the City of Iqaluit, if they feel that there is an increase in the assets within the territory and that their mill rate goes up, typically, the City of Iqaluit would send a request to Community and Government Services for an increase in the grant in lieu of taxes, which in turn, we would bring it forward for consideration in our business plans.
I’ll just assume that the city will be forwarding their latest mill rate increase to you guys quite shortly.
Within the Sport and Recreation Administration, I noted that there are 12 PYs.
In the priorities for 2015-16 under this category, of which there are a total of 56 PYs, there are three priorities listed and two of them are preparing teams for the Western Canada Summer Games and the Arctic Winter Games. There is one other priority listed as implementing a “strategic plan for addressing maintenance of community and government assets.”
Is that what the other 42 PYs are going to be doing next year?
Are there any other priorities that the department has identified that they’re going to be working on?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) If I may, I’ll defer that question to Mr. Green.
For the upcoming new fiscal year and this current fiscal year, we’re looking for $350,000 and that has to do with the cost of travel to send individuals to the North American Indigenous Games.
In the future years, we’re looking at an increase of approximately $1 million to prepare teams for the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, British Columbia.
I guess my humour is a little drier than I thought it was.
I noted that there are only three priorities listed in the fiscal year 2015-16 and two of them are associated with sport and recreation and only one listed in other aspects of the Community Support Services, yet there are a number of different categories where there could be work done in there.
I guess the question I’m asking is the priorities listed for 2015-16 seem a little thin.
Could the minister maybe let me know if there is anything else that he is planning on adding to that priority list?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) In addition to the games that the deputy minister mentioned earlier, we have some other items.
However, just so that my department is correct in responding, I’ll defer to Mr. Green.
For 2014-15, the member is quite right that we do have a large number of initiatives that we are undertaking. We’re now in the process of developing our three-year business plans for 2014-15 to 2014-18, and I suspect that when we submit those future business plans, you will see that some of those priorities will be expanded on as we look at other initiatives within the department.
Mr. Hickes.  Mr. Hickes (interpretation): That’s it.
Chairman: My apologies, Mr. Hickes.
I’ll be asking questions on the business plan. The first question that I have is on page 149, (interpretation ends) Technical Professional Studies Program. Is that within just the government department or is that also part of the hamlet offices within the communities?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Mr. Chairman, (interpretation ends) if you can give us just a few seconds here, we’re trying to find 149.
Mamianaq, my apologies.
If I may, I’ll defer the response to the deputy minister.
I would like the minister to repeat the question again because my page 149 shows Petroleum Products, which is under a different line than what we’re looking at right now.
I’m not quite sure. I think you called Mr. Mikkungwak the minister. Just a friendly reminder that the minister is sitting beside you.
Mr. Mikkungwak, please.
It was nice to get a brief promotion.
My question is on the business plan, page 149, and the particular thing that I’m focusing on is the Technical Professional Studies Program. I’ll elaborate more on my question.
Seeing that this Technical Professional Studies Program, earlier I asked if that’s focused at just the government positions or if some of it reflects the hamlet positions, considering the fact that when we look at firefighting, a majority of them are within the hamlets.
In addition to that, in Land Administration, you have government land administration, some of which are hamlet also.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Mikkungwak. (interpretation ends) It has been a long day for a lot of us, so we should allow ourselves little slip-ups here and there.
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I’ll defer the question to the deputy minister.
At this point in time, most of the funding has been spent recruiting our IT specialists within Nunavut Arctic College.
On the same page, just below that, (interpretation ends) Senior Citizen and Disabled Persons Tax Relief, (interpretation) this question may have already been asked, but my first question is: at what age can seniors qualify for this funding?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) If you’re 65 and over.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you. (interpretation ends) In other words, you and I are not eligible. (interpretation) Mr. Mikkungwak, go ahead.
Also on that item, do senior citizens or disabled persons require certain documentation in order to apply for this funding?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Yes, if they have identification to prove that they are senior citizens or disabled persons, it would be sufficient.
I thank the minister. I would appreciate it if the minister could elaborate on that.
Hon. Tom Sammurtok: I’m not sure whether this is the answer you are looking for. However, it’s based on disposable income.
It states here, (interpretation ends) “Provides tax relief for senior citizens and disabled persons residing within municipal tax authorities.”
So does this only reflect private homeowners?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok: Yes, it does.
On page 150 of the business plan, (interpretation ends) Mobile Equipment Block Funding, $2,513,000, (interpretation) I would like to know what this funding is used for.
This money is used by communities to subsidize the cost of mobile equipment lifecycle planning and maintenance.
I have another question regarding heavy equipment, such as bulldozers and graders. There are different pieces of equipment used in the summer.
Is this funding for that?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) If I may, I’ll defer the question to Mr. Green.
The purpose of the mobile block funding is exactly what the member suggested. It’s an annual contribution that the department provides the communities to finance and purchase their mobile block funding like dozers, backhoes, and those types of equipment.
The water and wastewater vehicles are funded through their water and waste management programs, but those are pretty much all the types of mobile equipment that are used for snow clearing, grading roads, and that sort of equipment.
There are many communities and as communities, we all wish to be operating as safely as possible.Is this funding sufficient to provide everything for the communities?
We provide annual funding to communities of $104,670.
Mr. Mikkungwak (interpretation): Thank you very much. (interpretation ends) Community Support Services, (interpretation) looking at this overall, such as responsibilities and reading what they do, ever since I became an MLA, I kept saying that the community of Baker Lake was impacted by the opening of the mine causing a tremendous increase in the number of people who come through our community.
That being the case, how could Baker Lake be provided more assistance to the municipality due to its increased growth?
Hon. Tom Sammurtok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) If I may again defer that question to Mr. Green.
All municipalities receive funding for their operating and maintenance which covers the cost of operating vehicles, sealift supplies, employees’ wages and benefits funded through the municipal funding formula.