The days are getting shorter, but local government meetings are getting longer. Yes, it’s that time of year: budget season. Or, more accurately, pre-budget season.
Both the Sunshine Coast Regional District and District of Sechelt kicked off their pre-budget discussions this month. The SCRD spent more than six hours in public meetings solely considering the upcoming 2022 budget on the first and second day of November, and Round 1 has not even begun.
Sechelt council dropped the director of finance’s report on the budget “Version One of the 2022-26 Financial Plan” on Nov. 5, when the agenda for the Nov. 10 meeting was posted online. But the process began months earlier with communications to the community associations and a survey in August that saw a response from 112 citizens.
Those 112 respondents represent less than one per cent of Sechelt’s population “and should not be considered statistically significant,” the report notes.
More than 580 people responded to the SCRD’s public survey – a much higher return than Sechelt received – and more than a third of their responses were about better communication between the SCRD and residents regarding the budget.
After all, with all the numbers, priority projects and projections, it’s a lot to keep track of. There are more rounds and many more hours before the official budgets will be adopted for either local government. It can seem like a daunting amount of time and effort on top of the average person’s day-to-day responsibilities, but it is a responsibility we have nonetheless.
A budget of any kind – like the one you have for your household or upcoming holiday shopping – can take time to fine-tune. They require prioritizing needs over wants, and how much money you can bear to part with for each, all while keeping in mind what you do or don’t have in the bank. A poorly crafted budget can cause serious trouble, and take much more time to set right again than the effort required to fill out a survey or attend an hour-long community information session. And since those forums are now virtual, you don’t even need to leave the house to become more informed.
All this is to say that now is precisely the time to start paying attention. Whether you have anything to do with the creation of the budget or not, these are your tax dollars.
Come springtime, when the final costs are tallied and the tax notices are being mailed, don’t place all the blame on the elected officials or government staff if you didn’t take part in the process. They can’t read minds. How can they represent the people, if the people don’t tell them what they want?
