Councillors host budget info session on September 15

(via Councillor Shad Qadri)

On Thursday September 15^th my office in conjunction with Councillor Marianne Wilkinson and Councillor Allan Hubley are holding a Budget 2017 public information session. The session will begin at 7:00 p.m. upstairs in the Kanata Recreation Complex 100 Charlie Rogers Place (formerly Walter Baker Place). The purpose of the public session is a part of our ongoing efforts to increase public understanding and engagement around the municipal budget.

The budget is the blueprint that defines how the City resources are collected and allocated. The overall budget comprises two main components – the Operating Budget and the Capital Budget. During development of the operating and capital budgets, Council has some flexibility for reallocating or reprioritizing funds between programs and services to address emerging issues. Given these limits on discretion and the financial realities of limiting tax increases to residents, it is difficult to address all these issues or to implement significant changes from year to year. Therefore  it is important that we hear from you so that we may engage as your city representatives in the 2017 budget process going forward.

I do hope that you can make the time to participate and provide your input. Should you be unable to attend the September 15^th session and would like to learn more about the budget process you can visit the City website here .

This year there is new tax tool that has been developed for residents to use to figure how a dollar of taxes shifted will and does have implications on the budget. You can visit here for details.

I also welcome you to share your comments and suggestion by sending me an email (Shad.Qadri@ottawa.ca).