It’s budget time at the City of Barrie, which means it’s time for taxpayers to share their priorities through the City’s 2025 budget surveys. The online surveys ask residents to provide feedback on major services included in the city's annual operating budget and the service partners budgets. Respondents can choose to increase, decrease, or maintain spending for each area and learn about the service impacts associated with each choice.
“Each year as part of the budget process, city council makes tough decisions about how it will pay for the programs, services and infrastructure our community relies on every day,” said Mayor Alex Nuttall. “We continue to face many economic challenges beyond our control, but Council will always work hard to focus on the essentials and deliver a budget that meets the needs of the people of Barrie. I encourage residents to take the budget surveys to provide feedback on their priorities ahead of City Council’s 2025 budget discussions.”
Feedback received through the surveys by Monday, October 21 will be shared with city council during the 2025 Business Plan and Budget deliberations. The budget surveys use approximate figures from major service areas in the city’s budget. They do not represent the entire City of Barrie budget.
In addition to the online surveys, the City of Barrie is working with Oraclepoll Research to conduct a statistically valid phone survey of residents to gather feedback on key questions related to the 2025 Business Plan & Budget. Starting today, residents may receive a call and are encouraged to take the time to provide feedback. Results will be shared with Council as part of the 2025 Business Plan & Budget deliberations. All individual responses will be kept confidential, and respondents won’t be asked to give any personal information including payment or banking information.
Subject to council's discussions, the city services portion of the 2025 Business Plan & Budget is scheduled to be approved on December 11, 2024. Service partner 2025 budgets are scheduled to be approved in February 2025.
City of Barrie property owners who want to see how their 2024 tax dollars were used to fund City and partner services can use the City's Property Tax Calculator to view a personalized estimate.
To learn more and share your feedback, visit buildingbarrie.ca/budget.
