How should your tax dollars be spent?
City of Oshawa looking for residents to get involved in budget process
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
In a few short weeks, Oshawa councillors will once again be looking at how to best spend your tax dollars, and they want to know what you think.
As a part of the city’s 2017 budget process, they are calling on community members to get involved and provide feedback, both through an online survey on the city’s Connect Oshawa website, and through in-person Q & As during a budget open house.
Paper copies of the survey will also be available at Service Oshawa and, starting this month, an automated phone poll will be randomly dialling households in the city to gather further survey responses.
“(The) more input we get from the public, the better the process works,” says Councillor Dan Carter who, during the last round of discussions for the 2016 budget, pushed for more feedback from the public.
“We’re going to build a great city, we love having the feedback from the public. So this process, making sure the public is involved prior to the budget and through the budget process, is a watermark time for the City of Oshawa.”
The 2017 capital budget will be presented to councillors on Dec. 12, followed by the operating budget on Dec. 16.
After that, the public has more time to get their feedback in on the draft documents either through a live, online Q & A through Connect Oshawa on Jan. 5, or through a public open house inside council chambers on Jan. 10.
“People just want the opportunity to participate,” Carter says.
“The public needs to have a voice in the most important decisions that are being made on a $160-million-plus budget as fas fas I’m concerned.”
For more information or to complete the budget survey, visit connectoshawa.ca/budget between now and Nov. 14.