Audio Visual

Narrator: Did you know the City of Regina is responsible for providing many of the services we use every day? City scene. Vehicles, pedestrians, and bikes animate across the scene.

More than 60, in fact, City scene fades to background. Text reading “60+ Services” appears.

Including water in our taps, the roads we drive on, snow removal, garbage and recycling collection, and police and fire services that help keep our community safe. Icons representing water, roads, snow removal, garbage, recycling, police services and fire services appear.

So when it comes to making budget decisions, how the City invests your tax dollars is important for everyone. Previous icons merge together and transform into a coin.

Your property taxes make up about half of every dollar the City spends. The first portion of a pie chart animates in, rotating in from the top.

Other revenue comes from government grants, program fees and charges, and reserve funds. The remaining sections of a pie chart rotate in.

So how does the City make sure that your money is being put to good use? An animated hand drops a coin into another animated hand.

We start with identifying costs to operate services for the coming year and deciding where to make investments in the community. Animated coins begin to pile up. Text reading “Average Budget: $500 Million” appears.

Day-to-day services like park maintenance, street cleaning, and recreation programs make up the operating budget. Icons for park maintenance, street cleaning and recreation programs animate in.

While the capital budget consists of road repairs, facility upgrades and renovations, and other major projects. Icons for road repairs, facility renovations and major construction projects animate in.

Services like police and fire protection, facilities and recreation, roads, garbage and recycling collection account for a large portion of the overall operating and capital budget each year. Icons and percentages for police services (25%), recreation facilities (22%), roads (15%) and garbage collection (6%) animate in, as well as text indicating ‘Other Services’ (32%).

Budget planning also includes considering things like cost of living, growth, the increasing cost of providing services, and the condition of our infrastructure. A bar graph animates in. There is a dollar sign featured prominently over the graph. Two people appear around the graph.

With population growth comes increased cost to deliver services and the need to invest in new and existing infrastructure to meet demand. People around the graph begin to multiply, and the graph continues to trend upwards.

With all this in mind, the City focuses on several priorities when proposing its budget to City Council. Icons for water, roads, snow removal, garbage, recycling, police services and fire services animate in.

We look for ways to keep services affordable and to reduce overall costs. A pile of coins animate in. The pile grows smaller until only a few coins remain.

This is achieved through innovation – finding new and more efficient ways of providing services. Five lightbulbs drop into frame. There are gears within each lightbulb, which begin to turn. The lightbulbs flash as the gears stop turning.

We plan ahead for future repairs and expenses, and allocate portions of today’s property tax dollars to help fund the cost of rebuilding infrastructure in the future. A stick figure drops on top of the centre lightbulb, holding a telescope. We zoom in as the figure uses the telescope to look ahead. The figure puts away the telescope and pulls out a chart, where it marks something down using a pencil.

We consult citizens to make sure your priorities are being met. People animate into frame. Speech bubbles animate in around them. Arrows come out of the speech bubbles, flowing to the right.

Your feedback and involvement helps tell us what is needed now and what is most important to you for the future. Animate in a group of stick figures putting together a large puzzle. A crane hook is dropping the last piece into place.