You have one last chance to let Chatham-Kent Council know how you want them to spend your hard-earned money.
The third and final public meeting on this year's municipal budget is Thursday night, and budget chair Derek Robertson says it pays to have a say on how your tax dollars are spent.
"The feedback, the advice, the consultation that we're able to have with the public, it's critical to the decisions that we'll have to make next week when we deliberate," says the Chatham councillor. "We'll receive the minutes of all the questions, all the answers that are provided at these public consultation sessions."
Despite few trade-offs in the 2017 budget, he's urging everyone to come to the Active Lifestyle Centre in Chatham on Thursday at 4:30pm. Beyond giving council a better idea of where citizen priorities lie, budget open houses are an opportunity to learn how government spending will affect services for the year ahead, says Robertson.
"In Tilbury and Thamesville we had not large crowds, but good feedback. Probably just about the same in Blenheim and Wallaceburg," he says. "The crowds are largest when there's a specific issue that's directly affecting a service or asset in a community. We're really not seeing that in this budget as much."
While Robertson says residents are mostly pleased with what's being proposed, there are still some concerns council can't ignore.
"The rural community is extremely concerned about the bridges. It's affecting their business and I think we need to be respectful because agri-business is an extremely important element of our economy," Robertson says. "We'll craft and deliberate and deliver a budget that is effectively meeting the needs of all the citizens."
-With files from Natalia Vega
