Input into Kitchener budget jumps

KITCHENER — The number of people offering input on the proposed 2018 Kitchener budget has quadrupled, thanks to the city’s online portal.

Kitchener council will pass the 2018 budget on Jan. 22, and is holding a public meeting on Monday night to give people the chance to directly speak to council about their budget concerns.

But people are choosing to comment on the budget online in increasing numbers: 406 people visited the city’s survey website and 171 responded to the survey’s six questions.

That’s a big jump from last year, when 160 people visited the website and 40 people filled in the survey. Before the city had an online survey system, the city typically heard from two or three dozen people, via email, letter or in-person comments at the public budget meeting.

“We’ve had more responses this year than we even had views last year,” notes Ryan Hagey, Kitchener’s director of financial planning.

“I’m very encouraged by the amount of feedback we received, and the time and effort that people put into going through the survey and providing comments,” he said. “It’s all provided to council and will come into play for the decisions on final budget day.”

By Friday, eight people had registered to speak at the budget meeting, set this coming Monday (Jan. 15) at 7 p.m. at city hall.

The city is recommending a 1.7 per cent property tax increase, and a 6.5 per cent increase in utility fees for water, sewer and storm water services. Responses to the survey, which isn’t scientific, suggest grudging support for the

proposed increases, with 39 per cent saying a 1.7 per cent tax hike was “very reasonable” and 44 per cent rating it “somewhat reasonable.”

There was less support for the proposed utility increase — 60 per cent found it very or somewhat unreasonable, compare to 31 per cent who thought the increase was somewhat reasonable and nine per cent who thought it very reasonable.

Many expressed concern over even an inflationary increase, when wages aren’t keeping pace. “I realize that the cost of goods is increasing but many of us don’t get a wage rate increase according to inflation. This makes things tight when increasing property taxes, especially on the increase on utilities,” noted one ratepayer.

Only a third of respondents (33.5 per cent) said the city delivers good value overall, while 56 per cent said it delivers good value in some areas but could improve in others.

The survey suggests governments need to do more to clarify which governments do what, since many comments were about areas such as transit, policing, garbage collection, affordable housing and social services, which are the responsibility of the Region of Waterloo, not the city.

Popular topics included the need for better snow clearing on city streets and sidewalks, while many others commented on the challenge of getting around in the city, with lots of calls both for better roads and traffic flow, as well as more investments in trails and cycling.