City Of Boston: Mayor Expands Public Involvement In Boston's Budget, Creating City's First Participatory Budgeting Office

Press release from the City of Boston:

June 9, 2021

Building on her commitment to equity and her focus on engaging all of Boston in the City’s governance, Mayor Kim Janey today took two key steps to democratize Boston’s budget building process. The first step was signing off on a ballot question to amend the City of Boston Charter that will strike a more equal balance of budgetary powers between the Mayor and the City Council. The amendment will now be sent to the Attorney General’s office for placement on Boston’s municipal ballot this November. The second step was to allocate an additional $1 million in the City’s proposed FY ‘22 Budget, dedicated to the immediate creation of the City’s first Office of Participatory Budgeting.

“CPA works to ensure more voices are heard in government and policy making,” said Karen Chen of the Chinese Progressive Association. “We want to commend Mayor Janey for signing the Charter Reform amendment moving Boston towards greater democracy and equity, where all Bostonian voices are represented in Boston’s city budget.” 

This press release was produced by the City of Boston. The views expressed here are the author’s own.