Iqaluit City Council accepts GN funding increase for infrastructure

Iqaluit City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to accept more money through a Nunavut government policy that would fund municipal infrastructure.

The agreement will increase the amount of money the city receives annually from the area from $5 million to $9 million.

The city's only obligation, according to Tuesday's City Council agenda, is not to use the money for purposes other than those specified in the agreement, namely physical assets.

“I’m very pleased about the funding,” said Deputy Mayor Kim Smith. “I think we will put it to good use. It’s very flexible and there are a lot of things you could do with it around the city.”

The money comes from the Department of Community and Government Services' Municipal Capital Block Funding Policy.

The funding pot was created in 2020 to support Nunavut's municipalities so they can “meet municipal capital infrastructure priorities,” the agenda states.

These include water systems, roads, civil protection, tourism infrastructure or cultural infrastructure.

For example, the City of Iqaluit is using a portion of capital block funding to pave Mivvik Street. The project was unanimously approved Tuesday and will cost about $1.7 million.

The work is scheduled to begin in August.

Nunatsiaq News reached out to the Department of Community of Government Services asking for more details about when and why it increased the amount of money available under the block funding policy, but has not received a response.