Thursday, March 28, 2024

86% Victoria city survey respondents don’t want council members to get pay raise

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The results of an online survey conducted by the City of Victoria show what residents think of the Draft 2020 Financial Plan.

Over 5,110 citizens responded to the survey which asked a range of questions on what they thought of the city’s budget allocations.

86% of the respondents said they disagree with the proposal to raise city council members’ pay by over 50%, bringing their total annual income to over $70,000.

Meanwhile, around two-thirds of the population stated that city spending for the Victoria Police budget was too low, while the budget for all other operational expenditures is “just right”.

A total of 41% of respondents said they received fairly good value for tax dollars; 37% said fairly poor value; 18% answered very poor value; and only 4% said they received very good value.

Most people said that the 2019 surplus should be saved for future infrastructure investment, while others want it to be invested in new initiatives.

Revenue from property taxes should be used to reduce the tax increase, according to 55% of all respondents.

According to city staff, the number of people who participated in this year’s survey far exceeded engagement in previous years.

Feedback from this year’s financial planning process will be used to inform future plans.

 

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Brishti Basu
Former Senior Staff Writer and Content Manager at Victoria Buzz.

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