Results from the 2023 budget survey were presented and reported to council on July 10, outlining what those in Cochrane know and think about in terms of how their municipal taxes are being spent.
The results were presented by Patrick Kyba of Advanis, who over the last several months has been working with the Town to administer a budget planning survey to all residents in Cochrane.
In total, Kyba said Advanis collected 448 surveys of residents all 18 and older, and the survey was completed between the dates of March 23 and June 19.
One of the first questions asked residents about the perceived values they received from their municipal taxes. According to the data provided, 57 per cent of respondents gave a score that ranged from good to excellent.
“The top reasons people gave for the positive value for taxes that they’re paying included that the Town is well maintained, the appearance of the town is good, Town infrastructure is well maintained, the Town offers a good level of services in general, and the Town recreation, parks and trails are very good,” Kyba said.
Those who gave lower scores mostly hoped to see a specific service improved. “And they don’t necessarily agree with the current spending practices,” Kyba said. “They feel that taxes are too high and that the services that they do receive cost too much.”
Kyba also explained that part of the property taxes residents pay go to the province on behalf of education, so the survey also quizzed residents on what percentage of their taxes they think go to pay for education.
“The true percentage is 32 per cent, and only seven per cent of people who completed the survey identified [it],” Kyba said. “We did get about 16 [per cent] that were close, giving a value from 30 to 34 [per cent].”
Kyba noted that although a majority of respondents did not know the correct percentage, some Cochranites who took the survey were not homeowners but renters.
Another question asked residents if they would prefer to see a decrease in service levels in order to maintain the current tax rate. According to Kyba, the survey revealed almost half of respondents opposed that, while just over a quarter of respondents said they’d support that.
“…and the rest were undecided,” Kyba said.
The survey also provided four different strategies to gauge the opinions of residents, with the most popular being to increase taxes to increase services in town.
Kyra said the survey goes on to explain that the taxes that are paid and the council’s budget fall into two categories – non-discretionary and discretionary. The non-discretionary budget pays for things like council, corporate services, and planning services, and that money is already allocated and can’t be changed.
“In contrast, there’s the discretionary budget, which makes up 76 per cent of the budget and that goes to these nine different services that the resident of Cochrane receives,” Kyba said.
Services in the discretionary budget include 20 per cent for fire services, 14 per cent each for RCMP and roads, 11 per cent for partner organizations, and seven per cent for parks and open spaces. It also included municipal enforcement, family community and support services (FCSS), and transit, with each receiving three per cent, and one per cent dedicated to business development.
The survey also asked resident whether the Town’s budget should increase, decrease, or remain the same for each respective service. The majority of survey respondents said they want to keep the budget the same. The only case that differed involved the COLT (Cochrane On-demand Local Transit) bus service but still kept 49 per cent to remain the same in terms of its budget.
In terms of adjustments to increase certain services, 30 per cent wanted to increase FCSS to help provide affordable support services and keep up with population growth. Roads followed at 23 per cent due to improving road conditions in the winter, while parks and open spaces also saw 23 per cent to ensure parks are better maintained.
Residents also hoped to see more areas for leisure.
Looking at decreases, COLT saw 35 per cent of respondents state they’d like to lower its funding due to a lack of usage, and they believe the transit service is not adequate to meet the needs of the community.
Partner organizations followed at 33 per cent because residents do not feel the money spent on that service is worth the benefits and that Cochrane should have enough facilities to meet the needs of the community.
The last decrease regarded municipal enforcement because residents feel there is enough traffic enforcement and the current level of municipal enforcement should be able to handle the current population.
The final question asked residents out of six different priorities, what should council prioritize in the coming year? The number-one item that 29 per cent of respondents selected was long-term fiscal sustainability. Second was 23 per cent selecting a plan for future growth. In terms of grouping all options, 54 per cent chose tax-related priorities, while 36 per cent hoped to see a long-term economic focus activity.
When asked about other priorities to consider, by and large, Kyba said 47 per cent of respondents did not know of any other priorities to consider.
Post-presentation, Coun. Marni Fedeyko said based on the results, additional efforts should be made by the Town to ensure residents are better aware of where their tax dollars are sent.
Coun. Morgan Nagel inquired about the details behind the top priority of long-term fiscal sustainability chosen by residents. Kyba explained that it was up to the interpretation of respondents.
A question by Coun. Tara McFadden asked about the cost to employ the services of Advanis, to which Kyba said it was approximately $30,000 to run the process the first time with future engagements running around $20,000. He notes a large chunk of the payment is dedicated to data collection.
Coun. Alex Reed inquired if this survey would be done annually. Town administration confirmed they would be looking at re-engaging a survey for next year.
The final question from Mayor Jeff Genung asked Kyba if he was confident the survey provided a factual representation of Cochrane, and Kyba said he believed it was.
“I’m hopeful that our community, as we start to engage in this way, learns that [. . .] this is how our administration is going to build a budget based on these factual findings of what people want in service delivery,” Genung said.
