Councillor Kelly hosted a public consultation for the 2024 City of Ottawa Draft Budget on October 19th at the West Carleton Community Complex (5670 Carp Road) in Kinburn.
After the meeting, Councillor Kelly had the following statement:
I was delighted to see members of the community stop by for a conversation. This is the second of these consultations that we have hosted and if you missed it, you can watch the video here.
We had the City’s Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer join us to discuss what kind of things are possible and what the City’s priorities might be moving forward. I spoke about the sorts of investments I would like to see in our city and heard the concerns of residents.
Those concerns included:
• the conditions of roads and the money required to address the issue
• the City’s financial position and how it may be impacted by Council decisions
• water quality
• investments into infrastructure
• housing
While this was not a meeting to provide answers to the extremely complex issues of infrastructure or housing, it was a meeting to help residents understand what Council can do to guide the use of funds for the City, and to understand how residents feel those funds should be used.
I will be arguing for the inclusion of many West Carleton-March roads to the resurfacing schedule. Anybody who lives here knows that we deal with long drives on less-than-ideal roads, leaving our residents on the hook for car repairs and replacements.
I will also be advocating for increased investment in emergency response. Road safety and speeding are top issues, and we need to see increased police presence and enforcement in our community.
Ambulance response times remain unacceptable. Further investment and a re-thinking of our current model are extremely important steps we need to take to address this issue.
At the meeting, we'll be looking for your feedback in advance of the tabling of the 2024 draft budget. Hearing about YOUR priorities will help to inform Councillor Kelly as he communicates with committee chairs during development of the budget.
The budget will then be tabled on November 8th.
If you were unable to make the meeting, there is an ongoing opportunity to share your budget priorities and feedback online at City Budget 2024 | Engage Ottawa. Or you can simply email our office at Clarke.Kelly@Ottawa.ca
On September 25th, the City provided a technical briefing on the budget to update council and staff. You can view the briefing below: