City of Surrey wraps up public engagement for 2024 budget

The City of Surrey recently completed public engagement for the 2024 budget, reaching over 50,000 community members through an online survey, in-person open houses, and a variety of digital outreach efforts. The engagement included sharing information on the budget process, as well as gathering vital community input on spending priorities and preferred funding approaches. An engagement summary report was received at the Regular Council Meeting on Monday, November 20. 

“Ensuring open and effective community engagement as part of our budget planning is a high priority for this Council,” said Mayor Brenda Locke. “It’s important to ensure we have good processes in place that provide opportunities for the community to share input on priorities and future directions and tell us what matters most to them as we begin work on the 2024 budget.” 

The combined open houses and online surveys generated over 3,300 in person visits and responses. Additionally, more than 50,000 community members were informed about the project by visiting the engagement webpage, receiving an e-newsletter, or viewing posts on the City’s social channels.  

Engagement findings revealed that respondents’ top priorities for the upcoming budget include transportation, policing and public safety and engineering infrastructure (including roads and transportation). Key emerging priorities to consider were housing supply and affordability, homelessness and sustainable transportation. Respondents also provided feedback on funding options for the budget, with the highest level of support shown for maintaining existing programs and services with a combination of increasing user fees and property taxes.  

Survey results revealed that awareness of the budget and process was 8% higher than the previous 2023 budget engagement held in January. This outcome supported one of the City’s primary goals: to broaden awareness of the budget process among all community members. 

The full engagement results were included in a corporate report submitted to Surrey City Council on Monday, November 20. The 2024-2028 Five Year Financial Plan will be drafted for Finance Committee review and consideration. The draft financial plan will be available for public comment before Council considers final adoption in early 2024 (target timeframe). 

View the full engagement report and learn more about the budget engagement process at surrey.ca/budget2024.