It’s budget season in Whistler.
The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) has begun making moves in the public engagement space, with the numbers from its August-September early engagement survey put to council at the Oct. 24 meeting.
In a first for the RMOW, residents were asked well ahead of time to share their thoughts on how the municipality should allocate budget dollars before the budget process formally commences. The feedback gleaned will provide guidance to staff prior to the preparation of draft operating and capital budgets for 2024.
Looking at the responses, it comes as no surprise that when asked to rank the priorities of the RMOW, Whistler selected housing as a top priority for the 2024 budget, with climate action and mitigation coming in second, community engagement in third, and “smart tourism” (previously referred to as “visitation management”) coming in at lowest priority.
In the staff presentation to council, RMOW general manager of community engagement and cultural services Karen Elliott pointed out the differences in attitudes across demographics.
“What was interesting was as we looked at how long people have lived here, those that lived here the longest prioritized smart tourism over community engagement and climate change.”
When it came to investment priorities, Elliott said the responses showed the community was “really focused on essential services.”
That includes items such as water and sewer management, waste management, roads, transportation and infrastructure improvements—in short, items that trended towards prioritizing residents’ needs first.
Items more geared towards quality of life came in at the bottom of the list when it came to investment priorities, such as festivals, events and arts, the Whistler Public Library and grants to community groups—but while these items were listed lower in priority, overall respondents opted to indicate support for maintaining these services.
“Most people believed our funding levels were just about right on average,” said Elliott.
A standout item for decreasing funding levels was “climate mitigation and adaptation,” with 28 per cent indicating a desire to reduce funding. At the same time, 39 per cent said funding could be increased.
“That’s something to be aware of as we bring forward our climate plans to reach 2030 goals,” said Elliott.
When pressed on that data by Councillor Arthur De Jong, Elliott said responses indicated the community was not saying climate was not important, but were indicating a preference for directing funding in other directions to get more bang for their buck, such as transit.
“It wasn’t a rejection of climate, it was more a desire to focus on essential services,” she said.
Overall, 205 residents completed the survey, with demographics of respondents also considered in the report.
The results showed the older, more established parts of the community were more engaged: 32 per cent of responses came from seniors, 35.3 per cent from folks that have lived here more than 25 years, and 56.7 per cent either own and live in market housing or an employee-restricted home, while another 16.3 per cent were second homeowners.
Seasonal workers represented 0.5 per cent of all responses (or one response out of 205).
The next steps in the months-long budget process includes special council meetings focused on capital projects in early November along with budget information sessions for the public later in the month.
The budget process will continue into the new year.
In this year’s budget, the RMOW raised taxes 8.4 per cent, along with increases of three per cent for water, four per cent for solid waste, and five per cent for sewer fees and taxes.
Next year’s proposed tax increases will be revealed at a later date.
Find more info and follow the process at engage.whistler.ca/2024budget.
