The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is set to debut ‘Citizen Budget’ – an online interactive tool that lets taxpayers craft their own municipal budget.
Budget chairman Derek Robertson will demonstrate the program to the media this week.
Chatham-Kent has partnered with Open North, an industry leader in connecting governments and citizens through the use of online technology to try and stimulate local participation in the budget process.
The simulator is based on last year’s figures and allows people to use their property assessment value to see how their taxes are used to pay for municipal services such as fire and emergency services, waste collection, parks and recreation etc.
Using the simulator, citizens can adjust how taxes are allocated to each service, and how their decisions affect their own taxes, and Municipality of Chatham-Kent’s overall tax rate.
Gord Quinton, Chatham-Kent’s Director of Budget & Performance Services, said the user-friendly budget exercise creates a two-way dialogue between where residents can access an online budget at their own pace.
“We recognized the limitations of public meetings which involve travel, time, childminding and other accessibility constraints,” he said. “Citizen Budget provides taxpayers with an opportunity to be involved with a minimum of disruption.”
The online tool is also designed to help the municipality understand what services and projects are most important to the community, and help citizens understand some of the challenges involved in creating a municipal budget.
Simulated citizen budgets submitted by November 30 will be shared with Municipality of Chatham-Kent Municipality Council as part of the 2017 proposed budget, and people can share their version of the budget on a variety of social networks.
The budget simulator includes elements of the municipality’s tax-supported operating, as well as its water and wastewater budgets.
Citizens are also encouraged to bring budget concerns to Ward Councillors throughout the year, or attend budget meetings in January and February. Throughout the process, information will be posted on Chatham-Kent.ca/budget to help inform citizens about the proposed budget and opportunities to participate.
2017 budget meeting schedule:
– January 17 – Budget Committee Information Opening Night
– January 24 – Community Open House Meeting
– January 25 – Community Open House Meeting
– January 26 – Community Open House Meeting
– February 1 – Budget Committee Deliberations
– February 2 – Budget Committee Deliberations
– February 7 – Budget Committee Deliberations
– February 8 – Budget Committee Deliberations
– February 9 – Budget Committee Deliberations
For budget updates or to join the conversation, follow the Municipality of Municipality of Chatham-Kent on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MunicCK or Twitter @MunicCK.
