By Sheldon Spackman

Survey Says...

City releases results of Citizen Budget

Nov 30, 2020 | 5:00 PM

A budget simulation exercise hosted by the City of Red Deer this month has offered some insight as to what adjustments residents might like to see in City spending next year.

The Citizen Budget, conducted from Nov. 5 – 18 by consultant organization Ethelo, showed residents where their tax dollars are being spent and allowed them to indicate where they would like to see city spending increased or decreased.

The exercise also allowed residents to see the effect these spending changes would have on service levels and taxes. Additionally, the process also aimed to educate residents on the City’s various services, while asking them to provide feedback based on the City’s current service levels and budget.

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There were 345 Citizen Budget visitors, 206 respondents, and 117 comments gathered.

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The Ethelo recommended scenario, however, did not detail the popular vote for funding levels in each department, but instead sifted through all budgeting scenarios, and identified the one with the most community support, and the least polarization.

Further to that, the Ethelo recommended scenario took into account not only participant’s likes, but also their dislikes, and used these to calculate what adjustments could be made to departmental spending to optimize community buy-in.

In the five budget funding areas identified, the results show a five per cent increase recommended for policing services, which would garner 66 per cent community approval.

Emergency Services funding was recommended to stay the same and receive roughly 75 per cent community approval.

Parks and Public Works funding was also recommended to stay the same and receive 68 per cent community approval.

Safe and Healthy Communities funding was also recommended to stay the same and receive 61 per cent community approval.

A five per cent decrease in funding was recommended for the City’s Transit and Fleet – resulting in roughly 75 per cent community approval.

According to the report, the recommended changes would result in a current average tax bill of $1,681 being adjusted to an average tax bill of $1,694 with a tax increase of 0.77 per cent. Predicted budget support would be 64 per cent.

A breakdown of the actual voter results showed that 70 per cent of participants were in favour of a decrease in Transit and Fleet spending, 38 per cent in favour of an increase in Emergency Services funding, 45 per cent in favour of increasing Policing Services funding, 49 per cent in favour of decreasing Parks and Public Works spending, and 50 per cent in favour of decreasing funding in the areas of Safe and Healthy Communities.

Report demographics indicate that the largest percentage of Citizen Budget participants were between the ages of 35-44 (31%), with 55 per cent of those being male.

The majority of participants (80%) have lived in Red Deer 10 years or more, with 88 per cent indicating they own their own home.