Nathan Miller knows the water and sewer system on his street needs to be upgraded, but that doesn't mean the street itself needs major fixes, he told council at its meeting Monday night.

Miller was one of two Black Street residents to speak at the public hearing on the proposed local improvement charge (LIC) to benefiting property owners.

While the city pays for most of the work, the LIC charges adjacent property owners for a share of it, based on the size of their properties.

The city had gone through the LIC vote and public hearing on the matter earlier this year only to repeat it now after a number of residents didn't get the notice of the public hearing.

The most recent vote on the LIC, held in September, saw 19 submit ballots against the LIC, with 15 voting in favour and another 16 not returning their ballots.

Unreturned ballots for LICs are counted as being in favour, a move both Miller and Phillip McLean, the other resident to address council last night, argued isn't democratic.

Miller noted there's never been a clear answer on why the votes are tallied that way.

As both Coun. Doug Graham and Brian Crist, the city's director of operations, explained, the provision falls under the territorial Municipal Act, which governs municipalities in the territory.

"That's what the Municipal Act says,” Graham told him.

Also, Miller argued, the votes opposing the work may not tell the whole story.

Many, like himself, are in favour of the underground work to fix up the aging water and sewer lines, but opposed to the above-ground work that would, among other things, pave the street and see sidewalks added.

It was suggested by speakers at the first public hearing that the street upgrades on Black between Fourth Avenue and the stairs leading to the escarpment at the end, would reduce parking on the street and could create conflicts between residents and visitors who park on the street to use the stairs.

Given the amount of work he doesn't feel is needed, Miller cast his vote against the LIC, which would have amounted to about $11,000 for him.

Homeowners would pay $459 per metre of street frontage for a new asphalt surface, sidewalks along the south side of the street and curb and gutters on both sides.

The average residential property owner would be assessed a total bill of about $7,000, with the option of paying it off outright or at $745 a year over 15 years for a total cost of $11,160, at an interest rate of 6.5 per cent annually.

Commercial properties would pay $917 a metre, or double the residential fee, with the average assessment tied entirely on the amount of frontage.

The entire project is estimated to cost $6 million, with residents directly footing $439,000 of the cost.

"This decision has a very direct impact,” Miller said, pointing out the improvements would benefit the community at large.

He suggested the city should go ahead with the "necessary” underground work and leave it at that.

"Don't push the road work through,” he argued. He also suggested if the city wants to make the road improvements, it could do so after the water and sewer work was done, with the city footing the entire bill.

McLean also took issue with the cost to property owners, arguing that under the former tax system, everyone paid for improvements.

Whitehorse, he said, "used to be a nice city,” but now everything seems to be a conflict with the city.

Recalling the previous vote and public hearing process, McLean commented: "We're right back where we started from.”

He also took issue with no recent letter having been sent out to inform residents of last night's public hearing.

However, Rob Fendrick, the city's director of administrative services, was quick to note a letter about the potential hearing had been included in the ballot mail-out sent in September.

Also a concern for McLean was the possibility of the work not being completed until 2012, instead of 2011, as originally planned, information he said he received at an earlier meeting on the matter.

As Crist explained in an interview following the council meeting, with the two-month delay in coming from a second vote and public hearing, the design work has been pushed back.

On the original schedule, design work would currently be underway, Crist noted.

If the project goes ahead now, it will likely be 2011 before design work could begin, bringing the physical work on the road into 2012, though no final deadlines have been set just yet.

"We haven't absolutely determined that,” Crist said.

While Miller and McLean were the only two speakers to address council during the public hearing, a number of people in the gallery left after the public hearing on the matter ended.

City staff will prepare a report on the public hearing prior to council voting on second and third readings of the LIC.