The 2021 Chatham-Kent budget deliberations are just around the corner and this year's process will be unique, to say the least.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the budget will be done completely virtually this year. All budget deliberation meetings will be broadcast live on YourTV as well as live-streamed on the YourTV YouTube channel.
According to Budget Chair Brock McGregor, it's shaping up to be a challenging year for budget deliberations.
"I think with COVID restrictions there’s obviously a significant impact on budgets for municipalities and of course some challenges in the way that we communicate and debate that budget with each other and the community," McGregor said.
The 2021 Municipality of Chatham-Kent budget process will get underway on Wednesday, January 13 at 6 p.m. when the draft municipal budget will be presented to Council.
"Council and the public will be able to see what's in the budget, what the proposed budget increase is and where that increase goes to, what services or to what council priorities," explained Steven Brown, Municipal Director of Budget and Performance Services.
Opening night will also be used to review issues facing council and the administration's recommendations. Additionally, any community groups that want to request funding or any organizations wishing to comment on the budget process can schedule a deputation for opening night by emailing ckfps@chatham-kent.ca before 3 p.m. on January 13. Comments can also be made by calling 519-360-1998 or by mailing Budget & Performance Services, Municipality of Chatham-Kent, 315 King St. W., P.O. Box 640, Chatham, Ontario, N7M 5K8.
Following opening night, there will be several opportunities for public feedback through community consultation meetings.
Despite challenges surrounding in-person meetings, McGregor said there's still a heavy focus on community engagement. While the meetings are typically held in-person at locations across the municipality, this year's community consultations will instead be done through the Municipality of Chatham-Kent’s Facebook Live feed on the following dates:
-Tuesday, January 19 from 12 to 1 p.m.
-Wednesday, January 20 from 4 to 5 p.m.
-Thursday, January 21 from 6 to 7 p.m.
All consultations will include a brief presentation from municipal staff that summarizes the proposed budget and provides a chance for residents to ask questions about the budget.
According to Brown, it's clear that Chatham-Kent residents are already actively engaged in this year's budget process. Brown said the 2021 budget survey, which was available from October 16 to November 3, garnered the most responses the municipality has ever seen from the budget survey, with about 1,300 respondents.
McGregor said there is feedback from residents that remains consistent from year to year including concerns about services being maintained as well as concerns involving infrastructure investments.
He added that on top of the common themes, he's seeing more concerns from residents surrounding uncertainty this year.
"Businesses are concerned with cost structures and what the future's going to look like. A lot of residents, because of [unsecure] employment and changes that way, are concerned about cost certainty going forward," said McGregor. "We're definitely living in a heightened time of anxiety and often that can be reflected in the type of feedback we receive."
The actual budget deliberation meetings will be held on January 27, 28 and February 2 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. If more time is required, February 3 and 4 have also been set aside if needed.
Written deputations of up to five minutes in length are welcome each evening. Submissions must be made by 3 p.m. each evening by email, telephone or mail.
The budget meetings will follow the same format as the virtual council meetings, which have been in place since March.
Despite the budget process looking drastically different this year, McGregor said he's hopeful that the virtual setting will help introduce the budget deliberations to residents who may not have been involved in the process in previous years.
"I think that does offer some opportunities for some online engagement with people that maybe wouldn’t be engaged if it was an in-person meeting," he said. "That opportunity to be at home, on your computer, to be able to use a cellphone to send in questions and be engaged. The threshold for involvement, the things you need to do and the effort is a little bit lower and I think allows more people to be involved."
