Participatory Budgeting Boosted With New Funds From BP's Office

Photo via Participatory Budgeting in New York City

City Council districts throughout our area just got more funding for Fiscal Year 2017 — and residents will be deciding how that money is spent.

Borough President Eric Adams announced last week that his office will be allocating an additional $1 million in FY 2017 — $100,000 per district — for the ten Brooklyn City Council districts who engage in Participatory Budgeting, resulting in additional projects winning funding.

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which local residents directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. Almost two-thirds of Brooklyn’s City Council districts (roughly 60 percent) now participate in PB.

Brooklyn’s ten PB participants this year are Council Members Mathieu Eugene, David Greenfield, Brad Lander, and Jumaane D. Williams from our area, along with Robert Cornegy, Jr., Laurie A. Cumbo, Stephen Levin, Carlos Menchaca, Antonio Reynoso and Mark Treyger.

The $1 million in FY 2017 capital funding is to be apportioned equally to winning projects from the votes conducted by the 10 council members in Brooklyn who are participating in PB this year, the Borough President’s office said.

Residents of the 40th Council District celebrated Council Member Eugene’s adoption of PB last June, after a major push from the Ditmas Park community.

Borough President Adams also announced he will be opening Brooklyn Borough Hall as a universal voting site for Brooklynites living in council districts that participate in PB. He spoke about how the growth of PB in Brooklyn will advance the causes of civic engagement, fiscal transparency, and good government throughout the city.

PB voting will take place in Borough Hall from Monday, March 28th until Friday, April 1st during the hours of 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM; the overall voting period for participating districts is from Saturday, March 26th until Sunday, April 3rd. All residents 16 years of age or older with proof of residency in a participating council district in Brooklyn will be eligible to vote at this location.

Adams’ office said that the Borough President is the first local elected official or agency head outside of the City Council to commit funding to PB.

“Participatory budgeting has been wildly successful in Brooklyn,” observed Josh Lerner, executive director of the Participatory Budgeting Project, a non-profit that supports PB across North America. “It has empowered tens of thousands of people to decide how their taxpayer dollars are invested in schools, parks, streets, and neighborhoods. We’re excited to work with Borough President Adams to grow PB and make Brooklyn a leader in innovative and transparent government.”