The City of Terrace received only 26 responses to their recent 2023 budget consultation survey while a property tax of over 10 per cent is being considered.
This represents a very small sample size of Terrace’s approximate 12,000 residents, according to Communications Advisor Tyler Clarke.
Available between Jan. 24 and Feb. 10, participants could fill out the survey on the city’s Engage Terrace website and paper copies available at the public library, city hall, and the Happy Gang Centre.
The survey broke down the report by departments, asking for short answer feedback on the information.
While reporting the survey results to city council on Feb. 27, Clarke also explained that out of 312 people who visited the survey webpage, only 25 completed the questionnaire online and only one paper response was received.
For the proposed budget changes portion of the survey, Clarke explained that seven respondents felt that a total property tax increase of 10.33 per cent was too high with most residents already facing inflation and high housing costs.
When asked for feedback on both the survey and the budget report, respondents said that having to register with Engage Terrace for the survey was a roadblock, and the report needed more detailed information with simplified explanations.
“It’s not exactly a large portion of our residents, but it’s a common theme, and we’ve been trying to work on these things in all directions but it would be nice if it was a much larger section of folks,” Mayor Sean Bujitas stated following the survey report.
When asked about removing the registration component of the survey, Clarke explained that though it is possible, it could also skew results with the survey now being open to people who don’t live in Terrace and therefore don’t pay the correlating taxes.
Clarke also said that changing the format of the survey could be helpful, as respondents indicated that writing out the short form answers was a barrier as well.
“Our numbers are saying that we are getting considerable eyes on the links” Clarke said, adding that it could be an engagement issue and not a reach issue.
Overall, Clarke explained that while participation was low, the link for the survey on their social media was viewed approximately 4,000 times.
Various ideas to improve engagement for next year put forward by council included a town hall meeting, rebranding or rewording the survey, and including a public input section at the beginning of the budget consultation council meeting.
In a written statement, Clarke listed property tax increases from previous years. Increases ranged from 2 to 4 per cent, until 2020 which saw 5.48 per cent and 2022 seeing 5.52 per cent, which marks a considerable jump to this year’s proposed 10.33 per cent increase.
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