City looks for input with budget survey

In an effort to involve residents in the budget process more directly, the City of Meadow Lake is conducting an interactive survey on its 2019 budget.  

In last October’s budget session, Meadow Lake’s mayor and council decided they would like more community engagement when it comes to the budget priority process. The survey breaks down a number of components of property taxes, such as policing and bylaw enforcement, administrative costs, water and sewer services, as well as fire and emergency planning, to name a few. The survey then asks if those services should be enhanced, maintained or reduced.

City Clerk Jessica Walters said the main goal is to give council guidance when they make their decisions in their next budget talks.

“This is really focussed on the operating budget and trying to gauge some satisfaction levels,” Walters said. “The idea is to give some information, what is the cost, what are you getting for that amount of money, to just get a feel what the community’s thoughts are on the subject.”

She said the city hopes to get a wide cross-section of responses before the survey wraps up early next week. The survey, which is only open to homeowners and renters within city limits, is available online and paper copies are also available at the Meadow Lake Library.

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“It will help us see if the priorities change,” Walters said. “People can say if they’re worried about streets or programming or anything else like that. After this, we’ll spend the summer making budget proposals, analyzing this information, and then have something to present to council in the fall.”

She said the city hopes to issue a capital budget survey later in the summer as well.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath