At its September 12th meeting, Boston residents from the Better Budget Alliance called on the City's Office of Participatory Budgeting and its Oversight Board to make all funds set aside for participatory budgeting available for use in the current cycle of the process.
CONTACT: Helen "Homefries" Matthews, Better Budget Alliance, homefries@economicdemocracy.us, 617-784-1731
BOSTON, MA - Roughly 800 residents submitted over 1200 ideas about how to spend part of City's budget in Boston's new participatory budgeting process this year. Participatory budgeting enables everyday residents to propose and vote on how to spend public dollars to improve their communities. From planting trees to funding dance competitions, providing more rental vouchers to assisting unhoused youth, creativity abounded in the idea collection phase, which ended last month. Now that ideas have been collected, what's next?
The process will proceed in the coming months with "Visioning Forums" in which residents will review the impact and feasibility of the ideas that were submitted. Ideas will be prioritized, and, ultimately, residents will have the chance to vote for 5 ideas on a ballot of 15.
But on a more fundamental level, residents and members of the City's Participatory Budgeting Oversight Board remain unclear about exactly how much funding the City has set aside for participatory budgeting. Members of the Better Budget Alliance - a city-wide coalition of community-based organizations that helped establish the new process via a ballot referendum - estimate that somewhere between $3.4M and $5.4M is set aside. But the the City says it has chosen to make only $2M available to fund residents' ideas.
At a September 12th meeting of the Participatory Budgeting Oversight Board, debate ensued about the level of available funding. "For this year, what are the conversations and who are the decision-makers for using the full fund?" asked Kendra Patterson of the Better Budget Alliance during the public comment period.
Several Oversight Board members, led by Board Chair Jim Kennedy, said that the Board should have a role in determining how much funding is made available for projects. They advocated for the Board's involvement in this key decision during the next cycle of the process.
"We can have a voice in the matter," said Kennedy.
But residents said the Board's involvement shouldn't wait until future cycles, urging board members to fully debate and then vote on how much funding should be available in the current cycle. Increasing the funding available for projects will boost trust and participation in the participatory budgeting, residents said, as well as increase the impact of projects in underserved communities.
The Better Budget Alliance has consistently called for at least a $40 million allocation to Participatory Budgeting in recent years.
The Participatory Budgeting Oversight Board meets weekly on Thursdays at 6pm. the debate over how much to fund projects will continue to unfold. Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the Board's meetings, and more information is available at www.boston.gov/public-notices.
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The process will proceed in the coming months with "Visioning Forums" in which residents will review the impact and feasibility of the ideas that were submitted. Ideas will be prioritized, and, ultimately, residents will have the chance to vote for 5 ideas on a ballot of 15.
But on a more fundamental level, residents and members of the City's Participatory Budgeting Oversight Board remain unclear about exactly how much funding the City has set aside for participatory budgeting. Members of the Better Budget Alliance - a city-wide coalition of community-based organizations that helped establish the new process via a ballot referendum - estimate that somewhere between $3.4M and $5.4M is set aside. But the the City says it has chosen to make only $2M available to fund residents' ideas.
At a September 12th meeting of the Participatory Budgeting Oversight Board, debate ensued about the level of available funding. "For this year, what are the conversations and who are the decision-makers for using the full fund?" asked Kendra Patterson of the Better Budget Alliance during the public comment period.
Several Oversight Board members, led by Board Chair Jim Kennedy, said that the Board should have a role in determining how much funding is made available for projects. They advocated for the Board's involvement in this key decision during the next cycle of the process.
"We can have a voice in the matter," said Kennedy.
But residents said the Board's involvement shouldn't wait until future cycles, urging board members to fully debate and then vote on how much funding should be available in the current cycle. Increasing the funding available for projects will boost trust and participation in the participatory budgeting, residents said, as well as increase the impact of projects in underserved communities.
The Better Budget Alliance has consistently called for at least a $40 million allocation to Participatory Budgeting in recent years.
The Participatory Budgeting Oversight Board meets weekly on Thursdays at 6pm. the debate over how much to fund projects will continue to unfold. Members of the press and public are welcome to attend the Board's meetings, and more information is available at www.boston.gov/public-notices.
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