The Town of Dawson City will have an election on or before June 15, in accordance with legislation tabled Monday by Community Services Minister Glenn Hart.

Bill 71 sets the timelines for the election deadline of mid-June. It also sets the term of office to coinicide with the 2009 territory-wide municipal elections.

The bill exempts the town from going back to the polls during the general municipal elections this October.

Hart said he is preparing a financial package to go along with the announcement. He expects to announce it 'shortly,' or well in advance of May 1, the deadline for providing the required six weeks' notice for holding a municipal election.

'We will set a date once we finalize the financial plan,' he said. 'We will have to have an election by June 15.'

The minister said there was no sense holding an election in June, then repeating the exercise four months later. There likely would have been little interest by candidates seeking office for such a short time, and there was the issue of money, he said.

'We wanted to assist Dawson in saving money.'

Dawson's financial troubles have been at the heart of the town's woes for years.

They peaked when Hart fired the elected council two years ago this month, citing mismanagement of money that was burying the community in debt.

Last week, Hart named the man who will succeed Ray Hayes as the town trustee. Leo Chasse, a financial guru who recently retired from the territorial Department Finance, will replace Hayes, who had wanted to get on with his retirement.

Hart said once the financial plan is in place, he'll set a date and convey that date to Chasse.

While the community has been lobbying for almost two years for a new election, it's also widely held among Dawsonites that if the election call does not come with a debt relief package, there's really no point.

Without the Yukon government accepting some responsibility for the mess the town is in, a new council will be doomed to failure before it's even sworn in, it's widely believed.

Andre Carrel, a financial consultant brought in to examine the books after the council was fired, said it would be unrealistic for the government to saddle the community with anything greater than an outstanding debt of $1.5 million.

Klondike MLA Peter Jenkins welcomed the election announcement in an interview this morning. But he too emphasized the need for the government to accept some blame for Dawson's troubles, as it was a party to the failed arena project and the barrels of good money spent after bad money.

Of Dawson's $4.7-million, the territory needs to write off $3.2 million to reach Carrel's goal of a debt for the new council of nothing greater than $1.5 million, said Jenkins.

A former senior cabinet minister, Jenkins left the Yukon Party last November, citing the party's unwillingness to help Dawson out of its troubles. Party faithfuls, however, suggest Jenkins left because he couldn't live with Premier Dennis Fentie's ultimatum: pay off his outstanding government business loans, or else.

Jenkins said not only does the government have to absorb two thirds of Dawson's outstanding debt, but it must also present a financial plan to address several key outstanding matters that would also smother a new council if not dealt with.

The roof on the new arena needs a $1-million overhaul just to prolong its life long enough for the town to build another new arena, he said.

The government needs to come up with a sound financial commitment for the new waste water treatment system, he said.

The former minister of Health and Social Services said there needs to be money for upgrading municipal infrastrusture that was neglected over the last five to seven years, as the town was focused on the boondoogle the arena became.

Without a sound financial package, insisted Jenkins, the next council will not succeed.

'That is great, the issue of an elected council,' said the Klondike MLA. 'But the elected council must have the tools to work with, and number one is debt forgiveness....'

Aedes Scheer, a former town councillor but a member of the dismissed council also stressed the need for a comprehensive financial package to assist the municipality. She too insisted if the financial package is not sufficient, the next council is doomed to fail.

She said while Dawson should accept a $1.5-million debt for its role in the mess the town finds itself in, so too must the government accept some responsibility.

'They wrote the capital funding agreement,' Scheer said of the government's involvement with the arena financing.

'That was not achieved by the city. They came in an told us, Sign here, and you will get the money.''

Meanwhile, NDP Opposition Leader Todd Hardy suggested Monday that Fentie if playing hide-and-seek with the new $793-million budget he unveiled last Thursday.

Fentie hadn't even caught his breath after delivering his two-hour, 20-minute, 42-page budget speech when he was outside the legislature telling reporters his budget was already out of date, Hardy charged during question period Monday.

'I will give you an example: the idea of providing a debt relief for Dawson City. Was it a spur-of-the-moment thing late Thursday afternoon, or did the minister deliberatety keep this information out of his marathon budget speech? It's one or the other.

'... At what point did the minister decide that his $793-million budget was just a guideline, not a real estimate of what this government plans to spend this fiscal year?'

Fentie, however, said the budget was the result of extensive discussion and deliberations. If Hardy had an issue with his party's accounting practices, the New Democrats should take it up with federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser, who has commended his government for its bookkeeping, the premier noted.