2024 Budget Invests in Housing, Safety and Infrastructure

Maple Ridge is moving forward with a 2024 budget that both addresses long-time needs and sets up the fast-growing community for success in the future.

Development of the 2024 budget and 2024-2028 Financial Plan took place from fall 2023 to spring 2024
Learn more about how Maple Ridge develops its annual budget.

The City’s $160M operating budget for 2024 is framed around maintaining core municipal services and delivering on key community priorities and needs reflected in the 2023-2026 Council Strategic Plan, public feedback (see below), and new legislation.

Based on the Strategic Plan, the City developed a set of performance measures known as Objectives and Key Results (OKR), which enable the organization to deliver on the Strategic Priorities with clear outcomes the City is aiming to achieve over the next 18 months. The OKR framework guided the development of the proposed 2024 Strategic Work Plan..

Public Engagement in the Budget Process

First Phase of Public Engagement

Development of the 2024 budget included several opportunities for public engagement:

• From Jan. 16 to 28, the City invited public feedback on the 2024 budget priorities through a guided survey. More than 2,500 people were reached, about 1,250 took the opportunity to learn more, and 460 people completed the survey (see summary report).

Based on the January public feedback, new housing legislation and priorities from the Council Strategic Plan and other master plans, the City prepared scenarios with varying service enhancements, related costs and taxpayer impacts. These scenarios were considered by Council on Feb. 6 and Feb. 13.

At a special Council meeting on Feb. 13, Council selected the service enhancements to be included in the 2024 budget and 2024-2028 Financial Plan. View the agenda and video at www.mapleridge.ca/councilmeetings

Second Phase of Public Engagement

• During a second round of public engagement from Feb. 16 to March 22, 2024, the community had the opportunity to learn about and provide feedback on the proposed Financial Plan. Thank to you to everyone who provided their input. (see summary report).
• Public comments or questions about City finances can also be submitted at any time of the year at budget@mapleridge.ca or 604-467-7484 (voicemail). 

What's included in the 2024 Budget

In addition to funding core civic services, some of the key investments in the budget include:

• To enhance public safety and meet growing demand: 16 front line fire firefighters to increase the department’s ability to provide core services, emergency response, community safety and prevention services, 12 RCMP officers to increase police services, an additional Victim Services Case Worker, increased downtown overnight security services to support downtown businesses.
• To address the requirements of new provincial housing legislation: Additional staff to support housing creation, develop pre-approved site plans, update Official Community Plan, Zoning Bylaw and Density Bonusing Program.
• To address climate change: A countertop food waste pilot to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a management strategy to protect the health of the McKenney Creek System and developing an inventory of local biodiversity and green infrastructure.
• To enhance community engagement and livability: A toolkit to increase public engagement, a participatory budget initiative, and multiple live performance activations on the City’s mobile stage for Maple Ridge’s 150^th birthday celebrations.
• To support local employment, tourism and business growth: Plans to retain and grow local businesses, attract new businesses, promote employment, attract events focused on tourists and residents, conduct a local labour market analysis and undertake an Albion Industrial lands analysis to help ensure that the City is investment-ready for attracting new industrial businesses to the community.
• To protect and enhance City assets, services and governance: Additional cybersecurity funding, strategies and technology to enhance customer experience and intergovernmental relations, an archeological management plan to meet provincial regulations, and a new continuous improvement program that will continue to enhance operational efficiency and citizen-focused service-delivery.

Learn More

• Go to our budget webpage to learn about the budget and what’s planned for 2024.

Tax Impact

Impact on taxpayers was a key consideration in developing the draft budget. The proposed increase is in the lower half of reported increases in the region.

Strategies have been built into the budget to smooth the tax impact, including spreading out the cost of additional firefighting and policing resources over multiple years, and actively seeking grant funding to offset costs.

Each year’s property tax bill also includes utility charges – flat user fees for recycling, water and sewer services that vary based on property type and service received.

Level of Engagement - Inform

The engagement for this project was at the "inform" level of the International Association for Public Participation's (IAP2) Spectrum of Public Participation. This means that we will provide the public with balanced and objective information on this topic to assist them in understanding the problem, alternatives and/or solutions.

Learn more about how we use the Spectrum as a foundation for community engagement here!

Translations

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