No one gets too thrilled about filling out a survey. In fact, surveys often quickly find their way to the recycling box with barely a glance. However, there is one circulating that’s well worth taking a look at. By now, many if not all area residents residing in the County of St. Paul, towns of St. Paul and Elk Point and Horseshoe Bay Summer Village have received the St. Paul-Elk Point Regional Partnership: Regional Recreation Services Master Plan (SPEPRP) Household Survey in their mailboxes. It’s a fairly hefty piece of mail, so it shouldn’t go unnoticed.
The municipalities involved have partnered with the assistance of a $105,000 Alberta Community Partnership Grant, to develop a long term strategy for the delivery of recreation services in the region. In order to achieve this blueprint for recreation, residents are being asked to participate in the survey seen as an important tool to gauge what existing recreation activities and facilities they currently use and what they believe to be important going forward.
Being six pages in length and with 30 questions in total, the survey is certainly going to take a bit of time and thought to complete. It is time you’ll never get back but if you’ve ever cared about recreation or how your tax dollars are spent when it comes to recreation, this is your opportunity to have a say.
Recreation in this instance is rather a broad term encompassing sports, parks, arts and culture, leisure pursuits and the natural setting. It is truly about lifestyle and the benefits that come with living in an area that offers up a great variety of recreational opportunities throughout the year. You’d have to be living on the moon to think this questionnaire in no way applies to you. So, pull it out of recycling and take pen to paper.
If money gets your attention, then here’s an dollars and cents example of why you should participate, consider question #16 on the survey: “Would your household be willing to pay additional property taxes if that money was used to support enhancements to recreation opportunities in the region?” If that doesn’t get your attention, perhaps the next question asking how much more in taxes you’d be willing to pay for recreation, will cause you to take note.
