By Logan mayor Jon Raven
Have you ever wondered what goes into balancing council’s budget?
Just like your own household budget, we can’t spend more than we have coming in.
We have to plan for the future needs of our growing city, while delivering the services our community needs today.
Every year, your councillors and I make tough calls about where council spends money.
It’s not easy and it’s a job we take very seriously.
Now you can have a go yourself.
Our new MyCouncil Budget simulator is an online tool that gives residents and ratepayers a simple, interactive way to explore how our budget works.
The budget delivers roads infrastructure, parks and playgrounds, libraries and other community facilities, as well as waste and recycling services for Logan.
Using sample figures, you can work through different budget areas, increase or decrease funding and see how those choices affect the bottom line.
This is a new product and it’s not a perfect replication of what councillors consider during the budget.
We’ll build on the features it has over time and based on your feedback.
It gives you a chance to think about some of the trade-offs council considers when developing its annual budget.
If you put more money into one area, where does that money come from?
What happens if you reduce spending somewhere else? Where could those savings go?
You can also create and submit your own balanced budget scenario and tell us why you made those decisions.
We’re sure we’ll get some useful insights from the community about what you think is important.
MyCouncil Budget will stay online year-round, so you can come back and try different options whenever you like.
Jump on, give it a go and see how you would balance the books.
Go to logan.qld.gov.au/budget and look for MyCouncil Budget.
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