Lloydminster residents have until Friday, September 25, to have their say on the Dollars and Sense budget survey.
The survey allows users to play with sliders to determine where they feel their tax dollars should be spent. Director of Finance Nicole Reineger says that more than 420 surveys have been filled, but she’s looking for more.
“I think if we can get some great legs to this product and getting people engaged in this process, it builds that great story about what our community residents are looking for. So we’ve specifically set up the time so we’re going to have this feedback in time for council, before they start to talk about [the] budget. So it can have a huge impact. We need people to fill out the survey, we need people to tell us what they’re passionate about, so we can move forward with those initiatives that are important to them.”
Reineger also says one trend that’s continued throughout the survey results is that many survey takers are in favour of a light increase in taxes.
“The whole method of the tool is to increase taxes, so I think there’s a small appetite there, but it is very cautious. You can see people sort of dipping their toe on the side of 105%, so there’s a bit of an appetite there, but they’re definitely being cautious and not going all the way to 120%.”
To fill out the survey, go to lloydminster.ca/budget.