This month, the Town of Olds is sharing the key findings and results from the 2025 municipal budget survey report.
Sheena Linderman, Director of Corporate Services for the Town of Olds, notes that council takes the budget survey very seriously and loves seeing all the input from all of the residents. She says “one of the things I would like to highlight on a positive note is we saw some great comments in regards to our solid waste changes. So we were quite happy to see that 63 per cent of responses indicated they’re satisfied with the changes we made. So that was great.”
This year, 379 responses were received between May 27th and July 5th which is up from 300 in 2023. According to the Town, the largest group of respondents are homeowners between the ages of 30 and 64.
Linderman points out one of the key findings from the report. She says “infrastructure is clearly a number one priority. Residents want to see more effective repairs and better road conditions. Another item that sticks out to me in particular is many residents feel that they are paying higher taxes while receiving fewer services. So we need to work a lot on communicating to our residents on how our property taxes are spent.”
Linderman adds, council will now use the 2025 municipal budget survey report as they prepare to do some service level review, and then they get into budget talks in November. She says “I think it is super important for council to see this from our residents. Right now as everyone knows we are dealing with a lot of infrastructure issues with our water loss, and I & I (inflow and infiltration) but also to keep our green spaces and trails, and playgrounds as a top priority as well.”
Residents can view the 2025 municipal budget survey report online at Olds.ca/engagement.