Including community members in the city budget process is essential to building community trust. Explore engagement options (and the benefits of community participation) to improve outcomes for both your team and your community.
Common municipal budgeting concerns
Let's talk about the hard-hitting questions you'll receive when speaking with the public about your community's budget. Being transparent about budget details and involving residents in the budgeting process helps build trust.
It's common for residents to ask questions such as:
- What are the major expenditure areas in the budget?
- How much is being spent on services like police, fire, parks, roads, etc?
- What new projects or initiatives is the budget funding?
- How are revenues like taxes and fees accounted for in the budget?
- What is the overall financial outlook and trajectory for the city?
Prioritizing your community's voices
Residents want to ensure the budget prioritizes issues that matter to them. Frequent areas of concern include:
- Funding for public safety, neighborhood services, and amenities
- Investment in infrastructure like roads, utilities, public facilities
- Support for economic development initiatives
- Allocation of resources across different neighborhoods/districts
While you might not be able to address all areas of concerns presented in these spaces, giving individuals a chance to share their perspectives and input is critical to achieving buy-in on your budget.
Ways to share your municipal budget through community engagement
Sharing your city budget should benefit both your team and your community members. Common public engagement options include:
Surveys — Surveys give you direction as to where your community would like to see growth and improvement
Advisory boards and committees — These groups offer a new perspective on budget priorities and can help build budgeting transparency and buy-in within the community.
In-person forums/focus groups — Allowing community members to hear from you and their fellow community members creates a collaborative space to answer questions, alleviate pain points, and move together as an aligned unit.
Online mapping — This includes the use of online tools and technologies that can show community members potential projects and the costs associated with them
Online workshops — Residents can voice their ideas and support the suggestions of others through virtual meetings.
Social media and the web — By providing information to the community online and via social media, where many residents already spend a good deal of time, you can help educate and spread awareness about the city budget and inform residents of upcoming budget planning events.
Remember: make your city budget easy to understand
Community members know their community well (including what it needs to improve and grow) — but they may not be familiar with the technical and financial language often used in city budgets.
Consider using visual aids (e.g., charts, tables, and graphs) to help community members understand the budget and allow them to comment on its structure and balance.
Addressing unfunded priorities and overdue projects
Community members may question why certain projects or services they consider necessary are not included or sufficiently funded in the proposed budget. Common examples include: 
- Neighborhood infrastructure improvements like road repairs, park upgrades, etc.
- New amenities like community centers, libraries, and sports facilities
- Expansion of public services like police, fire, trash/recycling collection
- Economic development and job creation initiatives
When residents feel their priorities are being overlooked or previously promised projects are overdue, it can breed frustration and distrust of city leadership. It's important to explain why certain initiatives may not be funded due to limited budgets and the need to balance multiple community needs. Transparency about the criteria used to prioritize spending can help residents understand the decision-making process.
City officials should be prepared to address these concerns head-on, explain the constraints they are operating under, and outline potential alternative funding strategies or timelines if additional revenues become available. Actively listening and involving residents in prioritizing budget needs can create more understanding.
Consider a participatory budget
One way to build community trust and buy-in is through participatory budgeting — a process that gives residents a direct role in deciding how a portion of public money gets spent. With participatory budgeting, community members are engaged in identifying local priorities and proposing project ideas. Residents then vote to determine which proposals get funded and implemented.
This approach to budgeting has several key benefits, including:
Empowerment and ownership: Giving residents real decision-making power over a portion of public funds creates a sense of empowerment and ownership over their communities. Residents are more likely to feel that their voices and priorities genuinely matter.
Educating the public: The participatory process helps educate community members about the budgeting process, financial constraints the city faces, and the tradeoffs involved in allocating limited resources.
Building trust and accountability: When residents are involved from the start, there is increased transparency and accountability regarding how public money is spent, which builds greater trust between residents and the city government.
Surfacing innovative ideas: Participatory budgeting sources fresh ideas directly from residents about community needs and creative ways to address them. It can unlock innovative solutions city staff may not have considered.
While only applying to a portion of a city's total budget, participatory budgeting sends a powerful signal about a municipality's commitment to civic engagement. It provides hands-on budgeting experience many residents do not usually get.
Make the most of your budget
SAFEbuilt is immersed in the city planning and development process. From grant writing to project management, we can help devise a plan to assist your municipality as it works to expand its budget portfolio utilizing county and state resources.
Looking for a way to alleviate some of your current budgeting constraints? See how third-party outsourcing can take some of that stress off your desk.
