Augusta residents and business owners have a chance to help shape the city’s 2026 budget in a survey aimed at identifying priorities and ways to improve.
The survey, posted online, starts by asking participants to rank four budget categories — public safety and the justice system, maintenance and infrastructure, government services and quality of life — in order of importance.
In addition to ranking categories, the survey asks participants to identify services that are working well, as well as five areas they’d like to see improved or expanded.
Options include public transit, the airport, garbage collection, law enforcement, streets and sidewalks and animal services.
The survey asks residents to rate the “value” of services they receive from the government for their tax dollars. It asks if they prefer raising taxes to increase services, keeping service levels the same or lowering taxes, even if it means reducing services.
The survey also gives participants a chance to write answers to questions about how the city could save money or operate more efficiently. It asks what the most important things the government can do to improve life and what its biggest challenges are.
In addition to the survey’s findings, the city budget calendar includes community input meetings to be held in July. The city’s budget calendar includes a Nov. 18 target date for finalizing the budget, which follows the calendar year.
Augusta’s budget appears large, at more than $1 billion, but most of the funds are tied up in restricted accounts such as sales tax project spending, debt service or external entities like the airport.
The commission has direct control over a fraction of the total budget, which was $1.35 billion in 2025. This year the city budgeted $78.5 million for law enforcement $126.4 million for general fund spending.
