It’s Time To Think About 2024 Budget Priorities

From David Hill, Barrhaven Independant

Photo from the Barrhaven Independant

This month city council will be starting the process of discussing the 2024 budget. I want to highlight some of my initial requests for this budget both to be transparent about my intentions and to solicit your feedback.

The city has provided a budget direction proposal to the Finance and Corporate Services committee which puts affordability for residents at the fore. The proposal holds the property tax at a 2.5% year over year increase, which when coupled with the assessed revenue growth of 1.5% sees a city budget growth of 4% – which is reasonable in an environment where inflation has hovered at about 3.5%.

The mayor has been clear, both in recent statements and in his election campaign that he sees affordability as the centre of the budget making process, and I agree. We need to ensure that there are balanced investments in our core services – snow removal, road work, police, recreation, transit and infrastructure. I want to see us investing in an Ottawa that is set up for prosperity and that incentivizes our local businesses to flourish, and for larger businesses to see Ottawa as a friendly city to invest. As Ottawa grows into the future, we need to set the conditions for good paying jobs – especially in the Barrhaven area! – in order to improve our quality of life here in the suburbs.

Read more about my proposals and potential action in the full article.