Budget Questionnaire

Read the 2022-2026 Financial Plan

View the 2022 Budget Questionnaire Summary

Budget Questionnaire Open-Ended Responses

To help Oak Bay Municipal Council understand community priorities, we are asking Oak Bay residents to provide feedback on special initiatives and the types of services and related quality and or quantity of services provided by the District. The questionnaire is open until October 24, 2021.

The median Oak Bay household pays $3000 in annual municipal property taxes. Other money collected through property taxes goes to help pay for schools, the Capital Regional District, the Capital Regional Hospital District, BC Transit and BC Assessment.

Property taxes fund approximately half the District’s budget (operating, capital, and debt). Utility and program fees and charges, grants, and reserves fund the remainder.

The Province's Community Charter sets out that the purposes of the municipality include:

(a) providing for good government of its community,
(b) providing for services, laws and other matters for community benefit,
(c) providing for stewardship of the public assets of its community, and
(d) fostering the economic, social and environmental well-being of its community.

It is up to Council to determine which services are appropriate for the community. Provincial legislation sets legislative, financial, and procedural parameters on how services are delivered.

As times change and as communities evolve, new issues arise and matters formerly deemed important can become less pressing. It is important that a community regularly revisit the services a municipality delivers to ensure that the service mix and quality remains appropriate.

The questionnaire also includes questions pertaining to infrastructure service levels and the pace of tax and utility increases following the District’s release of the Sustainable Infrastructure Replacement Plan. The Sustainable Infrastructure Replacement Plan was presented to Council at the September 27, 2021 meeting.

If you would prefer to fill out a paper questionnaire, copies are available at the following locations:

Henderson Recreation Centre:
2291 Cedar Hill Cross Rd, Victoria, BC V8P 5H9

Monterey Recreation Centre:
1442 Monterey Ave, Victoria, BC V8S 4W1

Oak Bay Recreation Centre:
1975 Bee St, Victoria, BC V8R 5E6

Read the 2022-2026 Financial Plan

View the 2022 Budget Questionnaire Summary

Budget Questionnaire Summary

Budget Questionnaire Report

Budget Questionnaire Open-Ended Responses

Budget Questionnaire Raw Data

Property taxes fund approximately half the District’s budget (operating, capital, and debt). Utility and program fees and charges, grants, and reserves fund the remainder.

The Province's Community Charter sets out that the purposes of the municipality include:

It is up to Council to determine which services are appropriate for the community. Provincial legislation sets legislative, financial, and procedural parameters on how services are delivered.

If you would prefer to fill out a paper questionnaire, copies are available at the following locations:

Henderson Recreation Centre:
2291 Cedar Hill Cross Rd, Victoria, BC V8P 5H9

Monterey Recreation Centre:
1442 Monterey Ave, Victoria, BC V8S 4W1

Oak Bay Recreation Centre:
1975 Bee St, Victoria, BC V8R 5E6

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Results of the 2020 Budget Questionnaire

Budget Questionnaire
The District ran a budget questionnaire from January 15, 2020 - February 13, 2020 asking residents whether they wished to increase, decrease or maintain a variety of District services. 341 questionnaires were returned by the deadline. The numbers have been updated to reflect the paper copies that were returned to Municipal Hall.

Most services received strong support for being maintained at the levels and no sevices receieved strong support for being decreased. Five services received strong support for being increased:

Manage road pavement (60% support increase)

Manage deer population (55% support increase)

Regulate to protect the environment (50% support increase)

Develop land use policies (48% support increase)

Regulate vacation rentals (42% support increase)

Questionnaire respondents were roughly representative of Oak Bay's population, with the exception of 45-54 year-olds who were considerably over-represented and 18-24 year-olds who were under-represented.