November 18, 2022

MOOSE JAW – The City of Moose Jaw has released results of the 2023 Budget and City Services survey.

A total of 396 responses were received during the survey period of September 16-October 10, 2022, giving the survey a margin of error of +/- 4.9%. There were 22 questions in the survey, designed to obtain Moose Jaw residents’ opinions regarding the City’s spending priorities ahead of the 2023 Budget deliberations, which begin November 22.

Among the results:

– 58% feel that their taxes are not reasonable compared to City services they receive.

– Close to 53% feel the quality of services they receive by the City is Satisfactory or Excellent.

– Attracting new and/or supporting existing businesses was the number one response (50%) by respondents, when asked to rate where the City’s decision-making priorities for the 2023 Budget should lie.

– Responses were almost equal (No – 50.5% to Yes – 49.5%) when asked if the City should increase taxation to recover costs of inflation.

– Over 75% of respondents said they would raise taxes to either maintain or enhance/expand current City services.

– 68% of respondents prefer the current practice of funding the Waterworks utility from municipal taxation.

– Slightly more respondents (179-174) say they would be in favour of increasing user fees so that less revenue is needed from general taxation to fund Recreation Services, as opposed to staying with the current 50% recovery rate model.

“We thank all residents who participated in the survey and the results have been delivered to City Council for 2023 Budget deliberations,” said Jim Puffalt, City Manager. “We appreciate the feedback and would add that many questions from respondents about infrastructure repair were the subject of News Releases and/or public Reports issued by the City in the past year. In 2022 alone we’ve completed 3.5km of cast iron replacement and repaired close to 8,000 potholes.”

Residents are also invited to provide comments or ask questions about City operations at any time. You can call our switchboard at 306-694-4400,  use the Contact Us feature on the City website:  https://moosejaw.ca/contact-us/ or use the Report an Issue feature on the website and the City’s award-winning app.

To see full survey results, and to view a full list of current engagement opportunities, use this link on the City’s website: www.MooseJaw.ca/notoriouslyengaged.”