In December, City staff released the City of London’s three draft budgets and gave a presentation related to these budgets. We will be debating the Multi-Year Budget in January and February, and will approve by March 5th.

Join me at one of my three "Build a Multi-Year Budget" sessions to learn more about the budget and business cases. You will be given a worksheet of all the business cases to fill out with your selected cases, and see what the tax impact would be. You can also provide feedback to me on your priorities.

The City uses a four-year cycle to budget (2024 to 2027). What we fund demonstrates where our priorities are. Does this Council care about climate change? Housing? Bylaw enforcement? What do you care about?

Currently the base budget is sitting at 4.9% over 4 years (average of $175 a year per household) and that's just our existing services plus inflation. In addition, there is .43% in provincial legislated services, as well as 74 additional budget cases from various city departments, boards and agencies.

I'll be honest, it's going to be a tough budget season as Council weighs the desire to keep property taxes affordable with the need to offer quality services to the community. Your voice will be instrumental in helping us make good decisions.

There are many ways to engage including attending this event, or :

• Complete a survey at https://getinvolved.london.ca/budget 
• Email me at [email protected]
• Email [email protected] (the Mayor will table his own budget for debate at the end of January, so your input directly to him in January will be important)
• Email all of Council to share your thoughts (I can advocate on your behalf, but hearing directly from you is also important.)
• Email [email protected] with a public letter to be added to our agenda, and grant permission for your email to be shared on the public agenda.
• Speak at a Public Participation Meeting (Jan 29th at 4pm and Feb 27th at 4pm, City Hall Galleries, 3rd Floor