The month of November means it’s budget time for the City of Grande Prairie. Starting on November 14th, City Councillors will head into chambers to talk about the budget for the next four years.
To prepare for budget talks, the city released its Citizen Budget Feedback tool which was available to the public from October 25th to November 5th. Through the tool, officials were able to ask the public if they thought spending should increase, decrease, or maintained in specific areas. The city received 358 responses.
A majority of people want the city to maintain its funding for snow and ice control, public safety services and parks operations. They also want to maintain current levels of maintenance on the bypass. A majority of people want to decrease funding for transit services and economic development.
The data also showed that a majority of people are very opposed to the city exploring ways to provide affordable housing. Most people also say that taxes in the city should be reduced significantly.
The full budget talks schedule is listed below. All meetings will be held at city hall. They will be open to the public and will also be webcast on the city’s website.
Wednesday, November 14th from 9 am to 5 pm
Thursday, November 15th from 9 am to 5 pm
Friday, November 16th at 9 am