Participatory budgeting in Vallejo, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In 2013, the city of Vallejo, California, became the first municipality in the United States to adopt a wide participatory budgeting, a process in which citizens decide to vote where a portion of their tax money can be allocated. One of the goals of the participating budgeting is to make Government more transparent and create strong partnership and increase participation between citizens and local government leaders. The four main reasons the project was proposed. One is to improve the city's infrastructure and services, the second is to engage the community by granting representation to underrepresented groups. The third is to transform democracy by granting more decision power and citizenry democratic participation. The fourth is to make government more transparent by creating a dialogue between citizens and the local government. This process allows residents to engage in the political process and regain the trusted of the elected officials.
Vallejo is one of the cities in the East Bay of Northern California, having a population of about 115,000 people. It is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States and has beautiful landscapes that include spring mountains, and waterfronts. The city faced some economic challenges in 2008 due to economic recession which resulted in the city filing bankruptcy. The inability to control crimes due to the layoffs of law enforcement personnel and also various government department experienced a great deal of personnel cuts as well. After three years of financial difficulties, the city emerged from bankruptcy and credit to the leadership of the city Mayor and the city council members. The proposed measure B, a sale tax of 1% that would increase the level of public services. The proposed measure B, if passed, will allocate 30% of the revenue generated through the 1% taxes to allow residents decide how and what to utilize the 30% portion of the revenue for in the city.
Supporters and funding
Measure B was adopted by the city council in 2011 and the major player and driving force behind the project was Councilwoman Marti Brown. The city hired a non-government organization to provide a framework, strategies and options to create a program for the city of Vallejo. The city agrees to use part of the funds from measure B which was about $200,000 for the operational cost of the program. The citizen would be able to decide which projects within the city are appropriate to use the 30% of the revenue for, which was around $3 million in 2015.