Engage all in budget plans

LAST MONTH, New York City voters selected a new mayor and 21 new members of the City Council and, in January, a new City Council speaker will be selected, ushering in a progressive makeover to City Hall.

As part of this shift, 21 New York City Council members have committed to partake in Participatory Budgeting (PB) in 2014, allowing their constituents to directly decide how to spend millions of public dollars. This will more than double the size of the current PB process, which is now in its third year with nine council members allocating a collective $10 million.

While this expansion of PB is an important step in bringing democracy directly to the people of New York, increasing transparency and restoring faith in government, the new administration and City Council should have a bolder and bigger vision.

First, more money should be made available: the $10 million now used in PB is miniscule compared to the $70 billion City budget. Second, the City Council Speaker should provide resources and support to centralize and coordinate the process in the City Council. Third, the mayor should create a citywide process that allocates more money and reaches more people.

Through PB, community members — instead of elected officials alone — decide how public funds should be spent. They exchange ideas, collaborate to develop project proposals and vote on which proposals to fund. Once the funds are allocated, they monitor project development to ensure accountability.

A new report from the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center shows that in 2012-13, PB engaged many New Yorkers left out of traditional political processes: youth under 16, people of color, low-income earners, women, immigrants and the formerly incarcerated. Many PB participants are new to political and community activism, with 50% of PB voters in 2013 reporting that they had never worked with others in their community to solve a problem before PB. These new participants built leadership skills, interacted with their elected officials and expanded their social and political networks. With new leaders taking the helm of every citywide office and much of the City Council, now is a moment to expand and strengthen PB. To bolster the existing PB process, the next mayor and speaker could provide additional funding for winning projects. They could match projects dollar for dollar or provide additional funding for specific projects that will benefit communities with the most acute need.

The new speaker could dedicate staff to coordinate and administrate PB across the City Council: providing technical assistance to participating members, liaising with city agencies and ensuring quality control.

To expand PB beyond the City Council, the next mayor could pilot new PB initiatives, such as supporting New York City Housing Authority residents in deciding how to allocate a portion of NYCHA’s budget, like Toronto has done, or looking to Boston as a model for a youth-focused PB process in the Department of Youth and Community Development.

In this historic moment, the mayor and City Council should be bold in their expansion of participatory budgeting, building off its current success to change the culture of government and political leadership to one that is transparent, responsive and open to all New Yorkers.