The city of Albert Lea is seeking additional citizen input about budget priorities through a survey posted on its Web site.

The survey, which will be available through April 7, asks people to prioritize city services such as police protection, fire protection, snow removal, animal control, housing inspections, library services and parking enforcement, to name a few.

The survey is also being given out at ward budget meetings.

Albert Lea City Manager Victoria Simonsen said city staff decided to do the resident survey because they felt it would allow staff to see what city services people value the most, while also letting residents see what services they receive for their tax dollar.

“We did not want to ask, ‘How would you fix the budget?’ since most people have little understanding of what each department consists of, so instead we decided to ask which is most important to you,” Simonsen said.

The survey comes at a time of expected cuts across the state to local government aid.

People are asked to rank services by importance, marking either low, medium or high importance. Results of the survey will be posted on the city Web site after the survey is closed.

Figures expressed as total expenditures in the present fiscal year:

Albert Lea: $21 million

Freeborn County:

$38.5 million

Albert Lea Area Schools: $39.8 million

“We hope it will show that all of our services are important; however, some take priority over others when it comes to budget cuts,” she said. “Just because something may show up as a high priority does not mean that it will not be touched in the decisions to be made. It demonstrates that this service is important to our community.”

It will show in generalities which services take priority, she said.

Having the survey online will give people who do not attend the scheduled ward budget meetings the opportunity to still give their input.

The city is also seeking input about where to make budget cuts through a 12-member citizen task force, which is expected to meet for its second time on Monday.

Through recommendations from the task force, input from the ward budget meetings and the results of the survey, members of the Albert Lea City Council will see where city residents think changes should be made.

The council is the ultimate decider of any budget cuts.

To get to the survey online, people can go to www.cityofalbertlea.org. It can be found in several places, the easiest of which is on the main page under “Upcoming Events” on the right side. It is also found under the “Government” tab by clicking on “Budget Priorities Survey.”

Other information about the budget, such as this year’s $21 million city budget, can also be found by clicking on “Finance” under the “Department” tab.