Your voice matters; now is the time to make it heard! Each year, Niagara Falls residents are encouraged to participate in the City’s annual budgeting process. Input from residents is crucial as the City works towards creating a budget that reflects the priorities and values of our community. The City’s budget directly impacts daily life – from essential services to developing infrastructure and public spaces. Feedback from residents ensures transparency, accountability and inclusivity.
Participating in the 2025 Budget Engagement Survey is easy.
Be Heard, Be Engaged, Be Informed
The City of Niagara Falls is more than just a place to live—it’s a community built on collaboration, growth, and shared values. One of the most critical ways residents can influence the future of their city is by engaging in the annual budgeting process. This process helps shape the allocation of resources that impact everything from the roads we drive on to the parks we enjoy, the schools our children attend, and the public services that keep us safe.
Each year, the City of Niagara Falls invites its residents to actively participate in the budget creation process. The 2025 Budget Engagement Survey is an essential tool for gathering community feedback, ensuring that the final budget aligns with the priorities, needs, and values of the people who live here.
Why Should You Participate?
Budgets are more than just numbers on a page. They are a reflection of what a community values most, and they directly impact your day-to-day life. From the moment you step out of your house in the morning, you are interacting with services funded by the city’s budget:
Public Safety. Police, fire departments, and emergency medical services are all supported through the budget. Ensuring these services are well-funded is crucial for maintaining the safety and well-being of every resident.
Infrastructure Development: The roads you drive on, the sidewalks you walk along, and the bridges you cross are all developed and maintained through city funding. The budget ensures that infrastructure improvements keep pace with the needs of a growing city.
Parks and Recreation: Niagara Falls is home to beautiful parks, recreational facilities, and public spaces that contribute to the city’s charm. Budget decisions directly impact the upkeep, expansion, and improvement of these areas.
Public Health: City-funded health services, including vaccination programs, clinics, and mental health initiatives, rely on the budget to function effectively.
Waste Management and Environmental Sustainability: Waste collection, recycling, and sustainability initiatives are vital to maintaining a clean and eco-friendly city. The budget determines how much the city can invest in these programs.
By participating in the budgeting process, you are contributing to decisions about how these vital services and initiatives are funded. You can voice your opinion on whether more resources should go towards maintaining parks, improving public transit, supporting small businesses, or other areas that are important to you and your community.
The Importance of Community Input
Every resident has unique perspectives and priorities, and the budgeting process thrives on diverse input. When you participate in the 2025 Budget Engagement Survey, your feedback helps the city create a budget that reflects the collective values of its residents. This ensures that the budget is transparent, accountable, and inclusive.
Here are a few reasons why your input is so valuable:
1. Transparency: When residents provide input, it creates a clearer link between the community’s desires and the final budget. By sharing your thoughts on how funds should be allocated, you help ensure that the budgeting process is open and transparent.
2. Accountability: Providing feedback ensures that city officials remain accountable to the public. By engaging in the process, you can hold decision-makers responsible for following through on community priorities.
3. Inclusivity: Niagara Falls is a diverse community, and every voice matters. Participating in the survey ensures that everyone has a seat at the table, regardless of background, age, or socioeconomic status. This inclusivity leads to a more equitable and just allocation of resources.
What’s in the Budget?
The City of Niagara Falls’ budget is a comprehensive financial plan that outlines how public funds will be allocated across various departments and services. Some of the key areas of the budget include:
Operating Budget: This covers the day-to-day expenses of running the city. It includes salaries for city employees, funding for public services, maintenance of public spaces, and more.
Capital Budget: This portion of the budget is dedicated to large-scale projects and long-term investments in the city’s infrastructure. Examples include the construction of new roads, bridges, public buildings, and parks.
Reserves: The city also sets aside reserves to manage unexpected expenses or emergencies, such as natural disasters or economic downturns.
Understanding these components helps you make more informed decisions when providing feedback through the survey. Do you think more money should be allocated to infrastructure development? Should there be an increased focus on sustainability projects? These are the kinds of questions you can weigh in on through the budget engagement process.
How to Participate in the 2025 Budget Engagement Survey
Participating in the 2025 Budget Engagement Survey is easy, and it provides you with a direct way to influence the future of your city. Here’s how you can get involved:
1. Complete the Survey Online: The City of Niagara Falls has made the 2025 Budget Engagement Survey available online for easy access. It takes just a few minutes to complete, and it allows you to provide detailed feedback on your priorities for the city.
2. Attend Public Meetings: Throughout the budgeting process, the city will host several public meetings where residents can ask questions, provide feedback, and engage in discussions about the budget. These meetings are an excellent opportunity to voice your opinions in person and hear from other members of the community.
3. Stay Informed: The City of Niagara Falls provides regular updates on the budgeting process through its website, newsletters, and social media. Staying informed about these updates will help you understand how your input is being used and what changes are being made as the budget is developed.
4. Encourage Others to Participate: The more residents who participate, the more reflective the budget will be of the community’s needs. Encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to complete the survey and attend public meetings to ensure a wide range of voices are heard.
When you participate in the 2025 Budget Engagement Survey, you are doing more than just filling out a form. You are shaping the future of Niagara Falls. Every response helps city officials understand the community’s priorities and make informed decisions about how to allocate resources.
Whether your top concern is improving public transit, ensuring affordable housing, or expanding access to recreational facilities, your voice can make a difference. A well-informed, engaged community leads to better decision-making and a budget that truly reflects the needs and aspirations of its residents.
Now is the time to get involved. Your voice matters—don’t miss this opportunity to have a say in how your city allocates its resources. The 2025 Budget Engagement Survey is open to all residents, and your participation is key to creating a budget that serves everyone in the Niagara Falls community.
Make your voice heard today—your city is listening.