There was lots of praise for a recent online public survey of Belleville residents’ priorities when it comes to capital spending and the capital budget from city council members Monday.
There were 422 responses to the survey with most residents wanting capital spending to focus on basic infrastructure; water, sewer, and roads.
Meanwhile, Councillor Paul Carr said the survey was a good start but the public needed to be educated more about how council comes up with its budgets, choosing payments from the casino as a good example.
“The city receives quarterly payments from OLG as part of its casino agreement and invariably you see comments online you know “where’s that money going, how come my taxes are still going up,” not really understanding the complexities of the municipal budget.”
In the capital spending survey, many residents supported user fees on some services such as arenas and sports fields and would defer spending on parks and recreation services in favour of basic infrastructure needs.
