Ward 11 Alderman Brian Pincott | City of Calgary Office of the Aldermen

I am still working my way through the budget, and I am still getting a lot of emails and phone calls with your reaction to it. I am reading the document, line by line, looking to understand all the pieces that come together to form the budget with its proposed 25% tax increase over the next three years.

And I realize that budgets are more than just expenditures and revenues. They are also about finding balance, hopefully the right balance, between expectations and realism. They are about finding a balance between all the different services that a city provides to its citizens. They are about finding a balance between dealing with the short term and the long term. They are about finding the balance between what constituents ask for throughout the year.

And now, as we look for possible cuts, do I suggest we pull from Parks? I receive calls throughout the summer with residents unhappy with parks maintenance and wanting the grass mowed more often. Do we pull funds from recreation? Each winter, we hear regularly that we need more rinks. How about Bylaw services? At the same time as there is increased concern about graffiti and demand for greater enforcement. What about reducing transit? Again, another area where my office receives numerous calls about insufficient transit service. Roads? Most of the calls that we get in the office are around road maintenance, repair and upgrades.

I listen to what my consituents tell me, not just the last two weeks, but the preceeding 12 months as well. And I am looking for the budget to somehow reflect the often opposing desires of constituents and find the right balance.

That gives you an idea of the lens which I am using to look at the budget. That is the kind of thing that I talked about over a year ago when I was knocking on people's doors asking them to vote for me. And the right balance is not something that can be declared on the steps of City Hall, and it is not something that we will stop working towards once we pass the budget, in whatever form it finally takes. I will continue that work long after the budget debates are over.