District Budget
Page updated September 30, 2021
The Community Charter requires local governments to approve a five-year Financial Plan Bylaw each year before they adopt the annual Tax Rate Bylaw. The current year in the five-year financial plan forms the annual budget. The financial plan identifies both operating and capital expenditures balanced against revenues from such sources as:
- property tax
- sale of services
- grants
- transfers from other governments
The financial plan is developed by Council through its strategic planning process, service-level review, and citizen engagement. Additionally, the District must produce annual audited financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles through the Public Sector Accounting Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. The audited statements must be included in the Annual Municipal Report.
Join the 2022 Budget Conversation today!
The District relies on property tax dollars to provide services and maintain parks and infrastructure that contribute to your quality of life. As a member of the community, it’s important that you are informed about the District of Sooke budget, and that you have an opportunity to share your input.
Engage with us at letstalk.sooke.ca/budget >>
Participate in our quick poll and 3-question Early Learning Survey (June 23-July 16) to start to shape the information we provide and how we engage on the budget. This will be followed by a citizen-budget survey later in the year that will seek more detailed input on the District’s budgets.
We invite you to connect with staff at community pop-ups (June 23-July 16 & August 30-September 24) to learn more about the District’s service areas and what projects are currently underway. Ask questions and learn about when key decisions are made and how you can be involved early. This helps to ensure optimum use of resources and your tax dollars.
A service-level review and Citizen Budget Survey (August 31-September 26) will inform how we adapt the five-year financial plan and next year’s budget priorities to set the stage for detailed community budget conversations. This tool allows you to share your ideas for how the budget might be modified and the impacts of those adjustments.
An initial service level discussion will take place with Council at a Special Council Meeting on October 4, 2021. Citizen Budget Survey results will be discussed at the October 18, 2021 Committee of the Whole, with the initial budget being presented at the October 25, 2021 (likely date, to be confirmed) Council meeting.
Also in the fall, the District will also host a virtual and in-person open house (specific dates: to be confirmed) to provide you with an opportunity to learn more about how the District’s budgets are developed, the unique challenges encountered when developing municipal budgets, and our roadmap to an open budget process.
2021 Virtual Budget Open Houses
Virtual Budget Open Houses took place on December 8th, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. at 6:30 p.m. Recordings are available on the District’s YouTube Channel and linked below:
Bylaws
2021-2025 Five-Year Financial Planning Process
In addition to budget discussions at public meetings, citizens participated in financial planning from September to December 2020:
- Over the month of September, an online public engagement initiative seeking insight from residents regarding the municipal budget was undertaken. The platform utilized was through a product provided by Ethelo, called “Citizen Budget”. This virtual engagement allowed for the District to gather input, educate the public, identify municipal budget areas, and ultimately attempted to increase transparency and trust with the community.
- In order to reach as many residents as possible staff developed and distributed a modified survey and sent it to 100 random residents with a postage-paid envelope included to encourage them to complete and submit the surveys.
- The results of these engagements were presented to Council at the October 21, 2020, Special Council meeting.
- The first draft of the budget has been available to the public since November 5, 2020.
Below you will find a list of dates and events where we received your feedback and shared how municipal budgeting works.
| 2021-2025 Five-Year Financial Plan Schedule | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event/ Meeting | Date & Time | Details | Links/ Documents |
| Online Survey | September 2-30, 2020 | Citizen Budget - interactive online engagement | Survey Now Closed |
| Mail Out | September 24-October 13 | 100 random households selected to complete a budget questionnaire | n/a |
| Special Council Meeting | October 21, 2020 @ 1:00 pm | Survey results, questionnaire results, Service level review, Department budget requests (presented to Council) | Agenda |
| Regular Council Meeting | November 9, 2020 at 7:00 pm | Draft budget presented | Agenda |
| Regular Council Meeting | postponed to November 30th | 1st & 2nd Reading of the bylaw | Agenda |
| Special Council Meetng | November 30, 2020 @ 7:00 p.m. | 1st & 2nd Reading of the bylaw | Agenda |
| Virtual Open House | December 8, 2020 @ 9:30-11:00 a.m. AND 6:30-8:00 p.m. | Online open house via MS Teams | Virtual Open House Presentation Morning Open House Video Evening Open House Video |
| Regular Council Meeting | *Bylaw deferred to an additional meeting on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 @ 7:00 p.m. | 3rd Reading | Agenda Agenda |
| Regular Council Meeting | January 11, 2020 at 7:00 pm | Adoption of the bylaw | Agenda |
| Final Adopted Bylaw | Adopted Bylaw | ||
View Regular and Special meetings (ALL open to the public) outlined below online at Agenda and Minutes.
What’s the District of Sooke’s overall direction for the future?
- See the Official Community Plan – note a review of the document is currently underway, visit picturesooke.ca to have your say & Picture Sooke with us!
- Read about Council’s Strategic Priorities. Goals for 2019-2020 focus on building a reputable organization, demonstrating leadership in climate action and managing long-term growth while enhancing community identity, vitality, and safety.