As Rocky View County (RVC) prepares to draft its priorities and plans for the 2022 budget cycle, the municipality is seeking public feedback from residents on its operations.
Until noon on July 14, RVC is encouraging residents and business owners to submit their input pertaining to the County’s programs and services, including agriculture, bylaw enforcement, cemetery management, economic development, fire protection, roads, utilities, policing, garbage and recycling, and more.
“I hope that because we’ve made an effort to do this, we get a lot of good feedback from residents,” said Reeve Daniel Henn. “At the end of the day, it’s their tax money we’re spending and trying to improve the County with, so we need feedback. It's a good idea to get input from the public on how we spend their money.”
Those who would like to submit their thoughts and opinions to RVC are encouraged to email [email protected], and to add “Comments for 2022” in the subject line. Anyone who does not own or use a computer can send written mail to the municipality’s headquarters at 262075 Rocky View Point, Rocky View County, with a postal code of T4A 0X2.
Though council will not approve the 2022 budget until later in the year, Henn said the process to start drafting that budget starts much earlier, which is why the County is asking for public comments now.
“Obviously, administration is going to start working on next year’s budget pretty quickly,” he said. “[Budgeting] is a long and arduous process for the County administration, so we’ll start with getting some input from the public now and they can move on from there, based on that input.”
Considering the large geographic area of RVC and its communities, Henn said he is curious to see what feedback residents ultimately submit.
“With Rocky View being as diverse as it is, the priorities for someone in Beiseker may be a lot different than someone in Bragg Creek,” he said. “They’ll be wide and varied, so I’d hate to speculate on what those would be. That’s why we want the public input – to find out if there are consistencies from one end of the county to another, or if the input is really varied. That’s what it’s all about.”
While the engagement initiative is tailored to RVC rate-payers, Henn said submissions do not necessarily have to come from county residents.
