Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015 (Halifax, NS) – The Halifax Regional Municipality is inviting residents to participate in the 2016-17 municipal budget planning process by sharing ideas on program and service priorities, and how they would like to see their tax dollars spent.

Regional Council and municipal staff have undertaken preliminary work on the 2016-17 budget, and established a public participation process that will enable residents to provide feedback on their priorities for municipal investment in programs and services for the upcoming year.

Citizens can engage directly in the 2016-17 budget planning process by attending the upcoming North West Community Council meeting (Districts 1,13,14,15,16), on Monday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m., Sackville Heights Community Centre, 45 Connolly Road, Lower Sackville.

Regional Council will also hold nine Committee of the Whole meetings dedicated to the 2015-16 budget and business planning process, whereby individual departmental budgets and plans will be presented and discussed. A list of the meeting dates and times can be found online at http://shapeyourcityhalifax.ca/hfxtax2016/key_dates. Residents may attend these meetings in person, or watch and listen online via live stream at www.halifax.ca/council/live/video.php. 

Online Engagement:
The municipality is also once again using the online Budget Allocator tool via its web-based engagement portal http://shapeyourcityhalifax.ca/hfxtax2016. This tool provides people with the with the opportunity to simulate adjusting the municipal tax dollars allocated to various services like transit, parks and policing – and see the potential impact this has on both service delivery and the overall budget.

The feedback provided online and in person at Community Council and Committee of the Whole meetings will help inform the municipality of resident’s priorities for programs and services for the upcoming budget year.

Source: Release