On Tuesday, Aug. 18, Wetaskiwin City Council and the City’s Senior Leadership Team met for their first Budget Information Session.
At this meeting, they reviewed the 2021 Proposed Budget and business cases for each department. More in-person (as allowed) and virtual budget consultation sessions are planned over the next few months before the final City budget is approved at the Dec. 14 regular Council meeting.
City of Wetaskiwin residents will have an opportunity to provide their input on the initial proposed budget from Aug. 24 to Sept. 3, 2020.
City Council is seeking feedback from Wetaskiwin residents on what their priorities are when it comes to spending City dollars on existing, enhanced, or new services.
Residents will be required to access the online budget simulation tool called A Balancing Act through the City’s engagement platform at haveyoursay.wetaskiwin.ca/2021-budget, or directly at wetaskiwin.ca/abalancingact.com/2021-proposed-budget. Questions about the 2021 budget can be asked through the Have Your Say Wetaskiwin platform, and a discussion forum will also be provided where residents can engage about budget topics that matter to them.
Users can log in and adjust budget item amounts with the goal of ending up with a balanced budget.
Through this process, City residents will be informing Council as to where they place value and where they feel that some levels of service could be modified.
Once the online budget simulation information is collected, it will be presented back to Council on Sept. 14. At that point, and with direction from Council, City Administration will make adjustments to the draft budget.
A second round of public consultations will take place in-person (as allowed) during the first full week in October before the final draft is deliberated by Council at the end of November. Council’s goal is to have the budget ready for approval at the final City Council session of 2020. Some dates and methods of public consultation may be changed depending on the public health orders due to COVID-19 at the time of the planned meetings.
Stay up-to-date with all 2021 Budget information at wetaskiwin.ca/budget.
The following dates have been set for the 2021 proposed budget consultations (subject to change):
