Council launches budget talks

Also, this year, the City will be seeking additional information never sought before. It will ask the public input on different means of revenue-generation.

“That would be unusual this time,” says Rob van Adrichem, the Director of External Relations. “To be able to say ‘What do you think about using reserves? What do you think about selling land? What do you think about potentially paying greater user fees to be able to offset what the City has to put in, which ultimately comes from taxes?’ There’s all of those elements that’s part of that picture.”

Every year since 2015, Council has hosted Talktober to gauge residents’ priorities for the budget. COVID-19 means that engagement will have to be done differently, likely digitally in some form.

The City plans to use a number of venues and techniques for inviting public engagement and the expectation is that, with public awareness of the City’s financial woes right now, engagement will be higher than ever.

The hope is to have the different options available by mid-September with the results available in mid-October.

by Cheryl Jahn

Council launches budget talks

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