Dawson Offers Internet Holiday, Discusses System’s Problems

by Dan Davidson

Subscribers to Dawson City's internet service can look forward to getting a break in their fees sometime in near future.

The proposal came from Trustee's Advisory Committee member Kelly Miller during an hour long discussion of internet related issues at the August 17 public meeting.

Millar said that service had been so bad during a great deal of the summer that the 172 subscribers to the service deserved a reward for their patience and loyalty.

Trustee Ray Hayes indicated that service has generally been better - as measured by fewer system-wide shutdowns - during the last several weeks. Recent disruptions have been the result of relocating the fibre optic cable to the new utility poles at the south of town.

There have been numerous problems associated with the service, which is offered in a bundled package with the town's cable television service or individually. Hayes says that the expenses that have arisen in regard to the internet in recent months have been such that the television service is essentially subsidizing the internet.

There has been a continuing discussion among the committee members as to the long term viability of the system, but the current consensus is that it would be best to continue to work towards making improvements. This will be a slow process, due to the town’s lack of money. Ray Hayes is reluctant to spend scarce funds on proposed solutions that do not guarantee positive changes, having already tried a number of these with the town’s current support service.

Jorn Meier, of Klondike Information Technologies, believes the system has great potential, but that it has been run badly. Meier placed a proposal before the committee which would see him running the system as a local contractor.

Meier contended that one of the problems with internet maintenance has been the lack of a local business to do the work.

"An out of town contractor has no stake in the town," he told the committee.

A city administration, he said, is not the body to establish where the technical problems lie in such a system, or determine what must be done to fix them.

Meier cited bandwidth hogs and service piracy as things which that need to be addressed and brought under control.

Government Rejects Bids For Outstanding Loans

WHITEHORSE (August 10, 2004) ­ The Yukon government will not sell its outstanding loans, Premier and Finance Minister Dennis Fentie announced on August 18. The highest bidder had offered $325,000 for the portfolio, less than eight cents on the dollar.

“The bids were lower than we had hoped for and didn’t represent good value for the Yukon taxpayer. Since we implemented our plan, a number of debtors have come forward to pay, and because of that we feel the loans are worth significantly more than what was offered,” he said.

“This is a complex, intricate and long-standing problem that has plagued successive Yukon governments. Our government is the first to make headway on this issue,” the premier added.

Since the government implemented its collection plan, eleven borrowers have re-negotiated their loans. Seventeen of the loans are now in good standing, representing more than half the $4.4 million dollars owed to the Yukon. In addition, four not-for-profit groups had their loans forgiven and twelve loans were transferred to the federal government.

“All along, we’ve said that the government should get out of the loans business, but we’re also committed to getting the best value for Yukon taxpayers. We’re now going to take some time to evaluate other options to resolve this issue,” the premier said.

Those options may include government collecting on the non-paying loans, hiring a private company to do the collection, or re-tendering a different package including only the nonpaying loans.

In total, there are 64 outstanding loans worth approximately $4.4 million. Seventeen

More borrowers promise to pay Yukon

CBC WebPosted Aug 18 2004

WHITEHORSE - More individuals and companies that borrowed money from the Yukon government have agreed to a plan to repay their debt.

The government has been trying to work out means to collect more than $4 million in unpaid government loans, some dating back to the 1980s.

Earlier this year, the territory announced it would sell off outstanding debt to collection agencies. While that deal fell through, it's prompted some of the largest debtors to agree to pay off their bills.

Two of the biggest accounts agreed this week to new terms to pay back more than $1 million in loans.

The Bedrock Motel in Mayo has agreed to terms on its $611,327 debt.

Dawson's Top of the World Golf Course has agreed to terms on its $506,290 tab.

"Some of them were looking rather doubtful, but they stepped forward and I got a distinct impression that these people were interested in paying off their loans," says Bill Curtis, the Yukon government's finance director. "And I'm optimistic that these folks will start making payments as promised."

The repayment schedule allows three years of an interest-free holiday, with 15 years to pay the total.

It still leaves about $2 million owed by businesses that refuse to acknowledge their debt.

"The obstinate ones? Those are the ones we are looking at things with the Justice department and practices of collection agencies and what our options are," he says.

Topping that list is Inconnu Lodge owner Warren Lefave, who owes $561,907.

Three businesses round off the most-owed list, with Norline Coaches, Northern Superior Mechanical, and cabinet minister Peter Jenkins' Dawson City Hotels.

They each owe just under $300,000.