Community feedback for our Budget soars

Published on 23 February 2023

Since our Budget portal opened on 15 December, more than 2,400 community members have shared their ideas and priorities with us! 

If you haven’t had your say yet, we urge you to do so before the portal closes on 15 March.

We want to hear from as many community members as possible about what's important to you and what you think should be prioritised in our Budget 2023-24.
 
All you have to do is go online to our community portal where you can put forward your aspirations and ideas.
 
All contributions and feedback will be presented to Council for their consideration. 
 
In our portal you can also let us know how you think we should allocate money to 14 themes:

1. New footpaths
2. Drainage and stormwater upgrades
3. Coastal infrastructure and access
4. Improving planning services and permits
5. Community crisis and homelessness support
6. Economic development, tourism and small business support
7. Improved waste services (circular economy)
8. Climate action and caring for our natural environment
9. Protecting our agricultural Green Wedge Zones
10. Community facility upgrades
11. Road safety and maintenance
12. New recreational facilities
13. Arts and culture programs and projects
14. Aged, family and youth services

Additionally, we’ve introduced a new tool where you’ll see every $1,000 budget allocated to current services. 

It’s called the Service Prioritisation tool; you use it by scaling up and down on the 21 high level services and you’ll be able to balance the budget to align with your needs.
 
The tool helps you understand how the Shire’s operating budget is allocated and allows you to prioritise where spending should go. 

Planning a yearly budget can be hungry work, so we’ve come up with a great solution. Help us with our Budget 2023-24 planning and we’ll feed you!

By contributing your thoughts to the Budget, you have the chance to win a $100 food/beverage/dining voucher from one of our local Best Bites award winners.

If you’re one of our lucky weekly winners, you can nominate to receive a voucher from one of the following 2022 Best Bites winners:

• Two to Tango Café
• Commonfolk Coffee Company
• Blue Mini
• Unica Cucina E Caffé
• Foxeys Hangout
• The Kitchen
• Spudalicious
• The Hive Loukamedes
• La Casa Nostra Deli
• Be Fit Food
• The Hidden Kitchen
• Paradigm Hill
• Via Battisti 

There are ten $100 vouchers to be won! All those who have already contributed to this year’s Budget and new participants will go into a weekly draw to win.

If your name is chosen, we’ll be in touch via email to arrange your chosen voucher. Easy and delicious!

How to have your say

The Budget portal is open until Wednesday 15 March 2023.
 
It’s easy to provide feedback online by visiting mornpen.vic.gov.au/budgetportal 
 
If you need help, email budget@mornpen.vic.gov.au or call 5950 1000.
 
Hard copy forms are also available at Customer Service Centres and our drop-in sessions.