The community has spoken -bylaw and administrative services take a back seat to trails and good roads.
As council reviews the 2009 budget line by line with less than a month to complete the document, initial results from a recent town hall meeting and telephone survey made the citizens' priorities clear.
Both sets of feedback were received by council at a Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday (April 14). Priorities also include recreation services, parks, and protective services. Seniors and administration services were ranked near the bottom of the list.
"we will be taking them into account," said Mayor Greg Gardner said.
Last week the district unveiled a revised budget that results in a four per cent decrease in municipal taxes, but nothing is written in stone.
Initially district staff recommended a budget that reflected a 17 per cent increase in taxes. The revised budget shows a four per cent decrease but also includes a list of add-ons such as additional transit and funding for the seniors activity centre.
Community feedback indicated that more money should be spent on trails, transit and parks. Services to be slashed included, home inspections, bylaw, grant-in-aids and animal control.
Results from the telephone survey showed most people are comfortable with only about a five per cent tax increase in 2009.
"We received a lot of responses and there are some real legitimate concerns such as the need to put money into trails while cutting back certain services. A lot of the feedback was very well thought out," said Coun. Paul Lalli.
If council decides to approve all of the staff recommended increases to the budget with the community feedback in mind, homeowners could see a seven per cent increase to property taxes.
With less than a month to go Coun. Patricia Heintzman said the budget process needs to become a 12-month process rather than a three-month cramming session.
During budget deliberations council was forced to approve spending on projects such as paving and highway marking. Heintzman said approving projects without an idea of the bigger picture is always a bit dangerous.
"It's always better to evaluate these things against everything we already know instead of one-offs," Heintzman said.
Many communities approve a draft budget in order to start the fiscal process earlier. Heintzman said council has been discussing following a similar model.
"A draft budget allows council and residents to do a comprehensive job instead of cramming a year's worth of work into three months," Heintzman said. "It should be a continual process."
