GN offers help to debt-ridden hamlets

Nunavut municipalities who are struggling with debt should turn to the Department of Community and Government Services before it’s too late, says cabinet minister Peter Kilabuk.

Cape Dorset mayor Matthew Saveajuk Jaw raised the issue during a question and answer session with Kilabuk at the Nunavut Association of Municipalities’ annual general meeting held in Pangnirtung last weekend.

“We’re willing to help,” Kilabuk said. Municipalities who have more than they can handle can turn programs over to the GN if necessary. As a last resort, CGS may use the operations and maintenance budget from regional offices to help communities stave off debt.

The GN took over municipal affairs in Qikiqtarjuaq at the end of April, when the hamlet was almost $1 million in debt. A GN-appointed municipal supervisor will manage the hamlet’s books for one year.

Around the same time, GN staff visited Kugluktuk to help that hamlet manage its $1 million debt. Kugluktuk has been without an SAO or financial officer since March, when both quit.

Other municipalities are fighting large debts on their own. Pond Inlet expects to be rid of its $1 million debt as early as this spring, just two years into a four-year deficit recovery plan.