HAMILTON, ON – The City of Hamilton is enhancing public engagement in its budget development process with the launch of the Balancing Act Budget Tool, an interactive platform designed to empower residents to explore and provide input on the City’s budget priorities. This initiative aims to foster transparency and strengthen community collaboration in shaping Hamilton’s 2025 budget.
The Balancing Act Budget Tool offers a user-friendly and educational experience, helping residents to navigate the complexities of municipal budgeting. By simulating the decision-making process, users can adjust funding for services such as public safety, infrastructure, and social programs, seeing in real-time how these changes affect the overall budget balance.
Key Features of the Tool
- Interactive Budgeting: Participants can adjust different areas of a budget – such as funding for public safety, infrastructure, and social services – to see how changes affect the overall financial balance. This demonstrates how tight budget constraints work and about the trade-offs involved in resource allocation.
- Real-Time Impact Visualization: The tool shows the impact of each change immediately, which helps residents see how increasing or decreasing funds in one area might require adjustments in another to keep the budget balanced.
- Community Engagement: Balancing Act offers an interactive way for Hamilton residents to voice their feedback on budget priorities in a structured format. It will provide Council and City leaders with information on community preferences to help them make informed decisions that reflect residents’ needs.
- Enhanced Transparency: The tool provides an easy-to-understand breakdown of budget components, which helps users understand the complex budgetary trade-offs that decision-makers face.
The insights gathered through the Balancing Act Budget Tool will be compiled and presented to City Council in early 2025, ensuring that residents’ input plays a key role in shaping the final budget.
“I am committed to creating a transparent and collaborative process that reflects the needs and priorities of our community,” said Mayor Andrea Horwath. “In response to feedback received from last year’s budget process, we have created the Balancing Act Budget Tool on a dedicated webpage that provides essential information and features key components. This tool is a powerful way to bring residents into the budgeting process, providing both education and a platform for further engagement.”
“Hearing directly from residents about their priorities is crucial to creating a budget that reflects the needs of our diverse community,” said Marnie Cluckie, City Manager. “This tool is vital step toward building a stronger, more inclusive Hamilton.”
This budget tool is now live and can be accessed at engage.hamilton.ca/Budget2025.
Hamilton residents are encouraged to use the tool to share their insights and help shape a financial plan that reflects the community’s priorities.