Editorial 12.7, July/August 2010, by Deirdre Helfferich Economic Clout: Participatory Budgeting A recent kerfluffle over how budgets are assigned in the borough for emergency medical and fire services reminded me of an innovative and very effective strategy for making sure that municipal funds are dedicated appropriately: participatory budgeting. This is a method by which ordinary residents of a given city or borough can decide how the budget, or a portion of the budget, is spent. This is not simply the establishment of some sort of advisory board: it is, according to the Participatory Budgeting Project, “a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. Most examples involve city governments that have opened up decisions around municipal budgets, such as overall priorities and choice of new investments, to citizen assemblies.” Putting budget decisions directly into the hands of the public creates a powerful incentive for the public to get involved in government. When I described the concept to a friend of mine in the Ester Volunteer Fire Department, he dismissed the idea because “only a few people ever show up for this kind of thing.” Well, it’s one thing to participate on an advisory board in which your effort and your board’s recommendations can easily be ignored, and quite another when you are a member of a local assembly that actually chooses which projects to fund and for how much. The former, even when there is good participation and sound ideas and planning, is not enforceable—it depends on the good will, time available, and attention span of municipal officials. The latter, on the other hand, has teeth: the people are the decision-makers. They are the ones holding the pursestrings. Not showing up means somebody else, your neighbor perhaps, is deciding how the money is spent—and if there’s one thing that gets people personally interested, it’s money. Here’s a more detailed explanation of how it works:
The advantages of this kind of decision-making are clear: first and foremost, it gives community members a real say in important government duties; it makes for better and more equitable budgeting decisions—local residents know best what they need and how great their need really is; it creates an active, involved citizenry; it strengthens communities and local organizations, which “get to spend less time lobbying, and more time deciding policies themselves;” it builds stronger relationships between elected representatives and their constituents because they work together and get to know each other; and it makes government more accountable and efficient. An example of a limited type of participatory budgeting that already exists in Alaska is the Community Revenue Sharing Program, which does put money and spending decisions more directly in the hands of communities. It has also been used in the town meeting style of public voting on budgets, as in New England. However, true participatory budgeting in the modern sense would have much more direct involvement in the actual development of the budget, and, using the Fairbanks North Star Borough as an example, would balance the needs of all the neighborhoods and communities within the borough through a year-long deliberative process. This type of budgeting process was developed in Brazil in 1989 and has spread throughout Latin America and is now used in cities in Canada, Asia, and Europe. The city of Chicago experimented with the process in its 49th Ward in 2009, deciding how to spend a $1.3 million discretionary budget: it was extremely successful. The 49th Ward has a diverse population of 60,000 people. More than 1,600 community members particpated. If these places can do it, why can’t we? Then issues like how to allocate funding for fire departments and medical supplies might not be difficult to resolve at all.
A Brief Note from Her Editorship Alert readers will have noticed that this issue is dated July/August, and also that it is a rather large issue. At the suggestion of several friends and contributors, the Editor is taking a vacation from newspaper publishing for a month, in the (probably vain) hope that she can get the September issue out on time and catch up on the many projects awaiting her attention: various book manuscripts (Wings of Fire, the Local Et Cetera 5th edition, The Long View: Dispatches on Alaska History); berry picking and garden produce preservation; house construction/destruction projects; the stack of books by the bedside; library paperwork; and, last but not least, the humongous piles of dishes and laundry. The next issue of the Republic will come out in early September. Contributors, please note that the next due date is August 23rd. Wish me luck!
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