Last week, Philadelphia City Council heard more than four hours of testimony from the public about Mayor Nutter's operating budget. There are a variety of ways to make it easier for regular folks to participate in the budget process. City Council and Mayor Nutter should consider some of the following proposals.
First, the time for public testimony should be moved to the front of the process. Currently, the hearing happens at the very end. This means that City Council hears from everyone running the departments before the public. Moving the testimony to the front would enable our elected officials to hear how ordinary people feel about the departments and could inform the entire process.
A second idea is to have more hearings. Public comment lasted more than four hours this year. It would be better to have several, shorter, hearings throughout the process. This would allow more people to participate and make it easier for members of city council to digest the information. Currently, someone cannot testify if they can't get off work the day of the single hearing.
What about having a budget hearing for the recreation department in a recreation center? This would also take the budget process out of City Hall and into the neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Holding hearings at night could also increase participation. This idea was suggested by Councilman Curtis Jones.
If City Council and the mayor really wanted to shake things up, they could scrap the single hearing and allow the public to testify throughout the process. If someone wanted to say something about L&I, they could ask their questions directly of a department head. There is the potential that this could get unwieldy, but it would allow a lot of input from the public.
These ideas would shake up the process, but they pale in comparison to some experimentation with budgeting that is happening around the world. There are several cities in Brazil that have something called participatory budgeting that actually allows residents to vote on how money is spent. That might be a little too radical for Philadelphia, but it is an interesting idea.
Allowing the public to have a chance for meaningful input is incredibly important. After all, most of the money being spent comes directly from taxpayers. The concerns of ordinary people, not just government officials, should play a starring role in the city budget process. Adopting some of the proposals mentioned above would be a good start towards increasing opportunities for engagement.
Comments (1)
Three days without a post! Hoping for something tomorrow...
Posted by Where ya been? | April 24, 2008 1:55 PM