Evanston residents push for greater involvement in city budgeting a year after a pilot program allowed for participatory budgeting.
Last year Evanston implemented a participatory budgeting process to allow residents to collectively allocate $3 million in funding to resident-approved projects.
Now, a year after its pilot, participatory budgeting is absent for the proposed 2024 budget. Residents spoke at the Oct. 23 budget public hearing requesting City Council allocate 1% of the 2024 budget toward continuing participatory budgeting, not only to help fund resident-approved projects but to improve civic and community engagement.
The city’s decision comes as it looks at a projected $14 million deficit in the new year. Evanston is hoping to combat the deficit by increasing property taxes by 7.8%, water rates by 17.55% and solid waste rates by 7.5% in its proposed $449 million 2024 budget. This budget represents a $51.8 million increase from 2023, which city staff attributes to new staff positions, an increase in capital improvement plan expenses and the water intake project.
Northwestern University graduate student Rishabh Juneja, who moved to Evanston last year, is among these residents. While Juneja says he was able to make friends through classes, he initially found it difficult to feel at home in Evanston but joining in the participatory budgeting process helped put these feelings to rest.
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“I’ve met some amazing people who inspire me to be involved in public service and strive for the betterment of all,” Juneja said. “I’ve also had the opportunity to feel like my voice mattered and work on proposals that could have an impact on many people.”
Residents decided to spend the $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds on projects such as mental health first aid, urban farming, affordable refugee housing and more, according to a city presentation.
The 2023 participatory budgeting process included idea collection sessions, proposal development and a vote to determine where residents wanted this $3 million to be spent. Residents say this helped foster a sense of community and engage Evanston’s younger residents in local government.
“The main reason I am excited about participatory budgeting is to watch the young people of Evanston … get engaged with what goes on in our city and advocate for things they want,” resident Len Lamkin said. “We need participatory budgeting if we want to encourage young people to continue to be involved in our city. Some of these young men and women will be our future City Council members.”
An Oct. 23 presentation by Participatory Budgeting Manager Matthew Ouren shows participatory budgeting had an impact when increasing civic engagement. Roughly 51% of residents attending idea collection sessions had not attended a public meeting or interacted with a public official within a year prior to participatory budgeting commencing, the presentation states.
Half of the idea collection session participants had household incomes of less than $75,000 and the increased participation among minority groups representing larger portions of each group than contribute to the city’s overall population.
Voter turnout for participatory budgeting was high in Evanston compared to other communities. Evanston ranked second in recent years for participatory budgeting voter turnout at 8.4%, according to the city’s presentation.
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.