Norfolk County has released the results of its 2021 budget survey.
The release explains that the results of their budget engagement campaign will be presented to Council on Tuesday.
Norfolk County says approximately 25 members of the public took part in a virtual engagement session on September 21st.
They add that more than 1200 people took part in the online survey.
The County says the majority of people support keeping tax increases at (or below) the rate of inflation.
Three-quarters of respondents reportedly favoured user fees of at least 50% of a service cost.
Some of the services ranked as most important to residents were parks and trails, libraries and arenas.
Some of the services ranked as least important to residents included public transit, museums and recreational programming (excluding aquatics).
According to the County, there was strong support for reducing the number of County buildings by consolidating operations.
More than half of respondents felt that the Tourism and Economic Development department should focus equally on tourism and economic development.
Continuing, the County says the survey results indicated that “increasing online booking and payment options” was the most popular of three potential ways to improve their customer service.
The results from the survey are meant to inform Norfolk Council’s decision-making during upcoming budget deliberations.
Budget meetings are currently scheduled for:
Oct. 27: Capital budget
Nov. 24: Rate-supported operating budget (water and wastewater)
Jan. 6-7: Levy-supported operating budget