OLDS — Seventy per cent of respondents to a 2022 Town of Olds budget survey feel they receive fairly good or very good value for their tax dollars.
That’s up one per cent from 2021, finance director Sheena Linderman says.
Linderman made that point as she presented results of the survey to Olds town council during its Oct. 11 meeting.
A memo from administrative staff accompanying the survey says figures contained in it provide “another source of information that council and administration can reference when making budget decisions.”
The town’s 2023 operating and capital budgets are expected to be presented to “at a future date,” the memo says.
The 2022 budget engagement survey ran from Aug. 2 to Sept. 16. A total of 295 responses were received, up from 155 in 2021.
Linderman said the results in this year’s survey were similar to those received in the 2021 survey.
In many cases, respondents mostly wanted the level of service in each department to stay the same or even increase.
However, in each department, when asked if they’d support a tax increase to support enhanced service, some respondents said ‘no, they’d rather enhance service by “reducing service in other areas in order to balance the budget.”
The survey report said the question skipped by respondents the most (212) was “are there specific services you would like to see reduced or eliminated?”
Of 252 total responses received, 129 respondents ranged in age from 35 to 64. Eighty-six respondents ranged in age from 55 to 65 or older. Thirty-one ranged in age from 25 to 34 and six were in the 18-24 category.
The vast majority of respondents live in Olds and are residential property owners, but a handful of respondents live in Mountain View County and/or are renters.
Operational services include sewer and water as well as maintaining parks and trails as well as streets, roads and sidewalks.
Six per cent of respondents said they would not support a tax increase to enhance that service. Fifty per cent said it should remain the same, and 45 per cent said they would not support increasing taxes to enhance it.
Protective services includes fire and police services as well as peace officers.
Ten per cent of respondents said tax funding for this department should be decreased. Forty-eight per cent said it should remain the same and 42 per cent said it should be increased.
Thirty-seven per cent of respondents said property tax funding for the community services department should be decreased. Forty-four per cent said it should remain the same and 19 per cent said it should be increased.
Twenty-eight per cent of respondents said property tax funding for recreational facilities should be reduced, 37 per cent said it should remain the same and 38 per cent said it should be increased.
Twenty-eight per cent of respondents said property tax funding for parks and trails should be decreased, 37 per cent said it should remain the same and 35 per cent said it should be increased.
Thirty-two per cent of respondents said property tax funding for the planning and development department should be cut. Fifty-one per cent said it should remain the same. Only 17 per cent said it should be increased.
Twenty-five per cent of respondents said property tax funding for the economic development department should be cut, 39 per cent said it should remain the same and 36 per cent said it should be increased.
A total of 65.90 per cent of respondents supported having the town continue to fund the Mountain View Museum. However, 34.10 per cent did not.
