A City Asks Residents to Vote on Which Infrastructure Projects to Fund

Source: Route Fifty By Molly Bolan, Assistant Editor

After months of offering ideas and refining proposals, Denver residents now have a direct say in how the city will spend $2 million in infrastructure funds.

Earlier this week, voting opened for Denver’s first “participatory budgeting” initiative, which allows residents to cast ballots for the projects they’d most like to see the city fund. All residents are eligible to vote, regardless of age or immigration status, according to Denver’s finance department. 

Denver is one of the latest local governments to experiment with participatory budgeting for a sliver of its budget. Others, including Philadelphia and New York, have run similar programs in the past, often with goals of improving equity and civic engagement.

The amounts of money in play are typically modest compared to overall spending. For instance, Denver’s general fund for fiscal 2023 is expected to be about $1.6 billion. Even so, participatory budgeting can provide a gateway for residents to get involved in the budgeting processes.

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