WATERLOO REGION — Should the region add new ambulance service? What about more buses? These are the types of questions residents can expect to be asked as part of the region's 2017 budget public consultations.

Region of Waterloo staff are crafting an online engagement process that will ask about specific proposed new spending council will be dealing with for 2017.

"It's a good step forward for our budget process to engage our community at a higher level and I think that's a good step for all governments to seek as much input as we possibly can when we make these important decisions," said Coun. Sean Strickland, chair of the budget committee.

The goal of the public engagement is to hear more from the public. In the past, budget public input nights haven't always been well-attended and often addressed more general spending issues as opposed to specific proposed new programs.

According to a staff report, there will still be questions about value for money on proposed new services and the general level of support for tax hikes to keep existing services in place.

Strickland said it's important for council to hear what residents think about new services in the larger context of property taxes.

"It's important to get that feedback within the context of the other budget priorities we have within the region and the ability for people to absorb increases in their property taxes," he said.

In June, staff presented a budget update to council that said it will take a two per cent tax hike just to cover planned costs and increases for items including staff and rapid transit.

That doesn't include the Waterloo Regional Police budget or cost of any new programs or services and it was before the emergency services master plan was presented to council earlier this month.

To deal with continued poor ambulance response times, the master plan said significant investment is required.

It calls for 20 additional paramedics and seven support staff at an annual cost of $4.3 million, half of which the province pays for. The master plan said an additional $1.1 million for five new ambulances and a new $18-million fleet centre are required.

The two per cent estimated in June includes staff salary and benefit increase projections to deal with collective agreements being negotiated in 2016 and 2017.

It also includes the seventh year of planned tax increases for light rail transit and bus expansion, which has been one of the key cost drivers for at least the past few budgets.

Along with the ambulance plan, it doesn't include some other spending options that will be before politicians when they start the budget process in October.

Among them:

• Repurposing of garbage collection contract savings to reduce waste management debt

• Implementation of the Grand River Transit master plan

• The Conestoga College transit pass.

Staff estimated the additional budget items, if approved, would add another one per cent to the tax hike, equivalent to about $4.8 million.

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In 2016, politicians approved a three per cent tax hike, adding about $54 to the property tax bill for an average home assessed at $302,000. The average property tax bill for regional taxes was projected to be about $1,882 for 2016.

While police spending isn't included in the region's preliminary tax hike estimate, a new collective agreement which awards an 11 per cent pay hike over five years from January 2015 to January 2019 will have an impact on that budget.

Those costs along with movement through the salary grids and debt servicing costs are expected to drive the police budget increase, according to regional staff.

The online public engagement tool is expected to be launched in November after budget issue papers are released.

The final 2017 budget is expected to be approved in January.

Paige Desmond Paige Desmond covers Waterloo City Hall for the Waterloo Region Record. Email | Twitter

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