Residential input sought on prioritizing City services
If you ran the City of Lethbridge, what would be your priorities for City services?
City council is hoping a new online questionnaire will help them find out.
The City has launched an online questionnaire in the first of what will be a number of opportunities for residents to supply input for priority spending when it comes to City services.
This year, council will set a new fouryear operating budget. Finance Committee deliberations on the next operating budget are expected to run Nov. 19-24.
Hailey Pinksen, City treasurer, said administration will be very busy in the coming months as they gear up for one of their largest and most important duties as a municipal government.
“The operating budget is essentially all the services that the City provides to the community,” she said.
She called it one of the “most substantial” decisions a council will make.
“It’s pretty crucial that the services we have today continue to be provided in the future,” she said. “This is definitely a huge undertaking. This is a big organization. It’s complex. There’s a lot of work and effort of both administration and council that goes into this process.”
Coun. Mark Campbell said the City’s Strategic Plan includes efforts to seek more engagement from the public.
“We want to know what they are thinking, and we want them to tell us what’s working for them and what’s not working for them,” he said.
“These discussions from the public give us an opportunity when we go into budget deliberations in November to understand what the people want.”
Traditionally, there is less public interest in operating budgets than the big-ticket potential of capital budgets. But Campbell said it is important for people to think about the services they enjoy which are funded through operating costs.
“What things am I going to, that I really enjoy going to?” he asked. “What does it cost?
“When we talk about services, I think it gets a little bit more interesting.”
Anyone interested in taking part in the questionnaire is asked to visit getinvolvedlethbridge.ca.
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