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2023 Canada Winter Games gets a 50.3 million price tag Event only feasible if everyone is on board YK committee 6 Wednesday February 3 2016 SPORTS RECREATION CANADA WINTER GAMES Take notice that the Certified Assessment Roll First Revision 2015 Assessment for 2016 Taxation for the General Taxation Area of the Northwest Territories NWT can be inspected at the office of the Director of Assessment Department of Municipal and Community Affairs Government of the Northwest Territories 5th floor Northwest Tower Yellowknife NWT. Assessed owners have been sent their respective Notice of Assessment. Each community government office has been provided with the Assessment Roll relating to their community which is available for public inspection. Each regional MACA office has been provided copies of the roll for communities in their region which is also available for public inspection. The General Taxation Area of the NWT includes the geographic area of the Territories that is not within a Municipal Taxation Area. The General Taxation Area includes all hamlets charter communities and all properties in the hinterland or located outside communities. Please be advised that under Section 40 of the Property Assessment and Taxation Act any person can make a complaint on the assessed value of their property at the Territorial Board of Revision. Written complaints must be received by Secretary to the Board of Revision 600 5201 50th Avenue Yellowknife NT X1A 3S9 on or before Monday March 14 2016. Complaints must be made by written notice and include the following a The name address and telephone number of the complainant b The location and legal description of the assessed property in question c The complaint and reasons for it and d The remedy or direction sought. For further information please call the Secretary to the Board of Revision Michael Gagnon at 867 767-9162 ext. 21022. 684-119E Public Notice Property Assessment for the Northwest Territories General Taxation Area By DALI CARMICHAEL A new report states that Yellowknife could feasibly host the 2023 Canada Winter Games CWG but whether or not it should is an- other question. Last week the CWG Working Committee a mix of municipal and territorial government staff as well as members of the business com- munityreleasedareporthighlightingthepros and cons of hosting the multisport games. One of the glaring cons was a lack of support from the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. There is no confusion - our membership does not want Yellowknife to host the 2023 Canada Winter Games said Deneen Everett executive director. Wishful thinking simply does not resonate with business owners who are struggling to keep the lights on. With recent layoffs in the mining industry and slow growth in other parts of the terri- tory the Chamber said it and its members could not justify the cost of the event esti- mated to be about 50.3 million including 36.3 million in operational expenses and 14 million in capital. We do what the business community tells us and what were hearing from the business community is that its just not worth the risk Everett said. Of course we all hope that the economy picks up in the next ideally the shortest timeframe possible but it is a risk theres no guarantees. The report outlines several areas where work would need to be done to make Yellow- knife a viable option for the Games. The city does not have the capacity to house all of the incoming athletes and their sup- porters and volunteers - about 4500 spaces are needed. Those working on the report also noted that the time of year when the games would take place - sometime in March - would be during peak aurora tourism season and when the winter roads allow access to the mines increasing the need for accommoda- tions even further. The gap is estimated to be about 670 to 780 rooms. The Canada Winter Games has a quality threshold of three-star for all accommodation and I asked whether or not the gross numbers that were in the report had considered that threshold and it hadnt said Mike Bradshaw executivedirectorfortheNWTChamberofCom- merce. Thats just a quantitative figure and a bunch of those rooms arent going to meet the nationalstandard.SowhoarewekiddingWe donthavethecapacitywedonthavethevolun- teers the economy is struggling and they still want to pull 600000 out of Northern spon- sors I dont know how its going to happen. Additionally to host all of the events a pool and a venue for alpine events will need to be installed with major upgrades - an estimated 957000 worth - needed at the Ski Club. So close and yet so far Despite the uphill battle facing them some Yellowknifers are holding true to the adage Where theres a will theres a way. As a city councillor for a couple terms ... Ive been fairly informed on it and was sup- portive of the community committee being put together and doing the work that they did and Im very happy that they assembled the report said MLA and former city council- lor Cory Vanthuyne. They now suggest as I anticipated all along the city has the capac- ity required to host these games. ThecommitteefoundthatYellowknifesven- ues can accommodate the required athletes comfort care facilities and services includ- ing food services medical polyclinic mission centre team mission and staff transporta- tion and lounges. As well the Yellowknife Airport has capac- ity to meet the events standard. Thebiggestobstaclethatremainsisfunding. Theres no silver bullet or magic wand for this you do have to pull from a number of dif- ferent resources and be creative Vanthuyne said nodding to hotel and airport levies de- scribed in the report. Id like to see more work beingdoneonthatsowecanseethenumbers. At the end of the day it will be the citys priorities that determine whether or not Yel- lowknife gets the games. Our business committee would prefer if the city would get focused on homelessness and chronic addictions. We have issues here not just in Yellowknife but in the NWT and somebodys got to come to grips with them Bradshaw said. That may sound unusual coming from the business sector but we live with the issues every day and thats another reason why it could turn into a total embar- rassment if we host the games. Vanthuyne is more optimistic. If we dont take advantage of this particu- lar opportunity its not like its just going to be there another couple of years down the road. POLITICS BUDGET GNWT faces fiscal challenges Five-year outlook not great The opening ceremonies of the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George B.C. PhotoIanHeslop By CRAIG GILBERT The NWT remains the only jurisdiction in Canada that has not recovered to pre-2008 recession levels in terms of economic output. Advisors from the territorial government held a technical briefing for media Feb. 1 an- nouncing that despite four straight years of growth the NWT remains 7.5 per cent below thefive-yearaverageofthatpre-recessionlevel. Overallthe five-year-outlookfortheNWT economyisnotgreatabackgrounddocument reads. The Northwest Territories is facing a rangeofeconomicchallenges.Whilesometer- ritorial regions are benefitting from resource development projects economic activity in other areas has slowed considerably. Flat revenue growth has been a concern at the GNWT for some time but now they are projecting revenues to shrink by 1.7 per cent overthenextfiveyearswhileexpendituresare expected to rise four per cent over the same period according to Sandy Kalgutkar deputy secretaryoftheFinancialManagementBoard. Toensureresponsibleborrowingpoliciesthe GNWTdevelopedaprudentdebtmanagement planthatisguidedbytheFiscalResponsibility Policywhichrequiresoperatingcashsurpluses topaydowndebtandrequiresthatatleasthalf of the annual capital budget is funded by cash from operating surpluses the backgrounder continues. This means that by the last year of the 18th Assembly there will be few funds available for capital investment. The slow growing economy produces a flat revenue outlook which in turn means less fis- calresourcestosustainprogramsandservices at current levels. Thepurposetodaywasjusttoprovidesome contextofourfiscalsituationgiventhatwehave anewsetofMLAsKalgutkarsaid.Wehavent reallyshownfolkswhatourforecastisthelast budget was finalized a year ago. He said declining resource revenues cor- porate taxes and an unfavourable change to the data used to calculate the federal govern- ments transfer to the GNWT have combined to create a fiscal perfect storm for MLAs to grapple with. Bureaucratsarenowconsultingwithregular MLAsontheirfiscalstrategyaheadofdevelop- ingthebusinessstrategythatwillbuildintothe 2016-17 territorial budget to be tabled in May.