Case Studies: Eugene Decisions
“Eugene Decisions demonstrates two common outcomes of participatory budgeting processes. First, when citizens take a careful look at local budgets, they usually become more likely to support higher taxes and government services. Second, they often decide that private businesses and community organizations should take over tasks (like the work of Eugene-in-Common) which would previously have been handled by government, at taxpayer expense.”
Eugene, Oregon
Description: Several years ago, the Eugene City Council faced a budget shortfall. The city began working with the Deliberative Democracy Project at the University of Oregon to involve citizens in deciding how to balance the budget. The resulting project, Eugene Decisions, utilized a series of surveys and questionnaires, followed by a series of community workshops where participants used a booklet and worksheet to generate their own recommendations. The city then summarized the conclusions and used them to prepare a plan for the budget. Then a second round of surveys and workshops was held to gauge citizens' support for the plan.
Dates active: 1992-1994
Issue(s): Public finance
Sub-issue(s): Public finance
Level(s): City
Initiators: Local government
Particular goals: Balance local budget
Number of participants/year: 680 in the first round of workshops; a slightly lower number in the second.
Population of community: 138,000
Time spent by participants: 3 hours
Staffing/funding: City funded the effort; the city and the Deliberative Democracy Project staffed it.
How meetings were structured: Large forum with breakout sessions; small groups were facilitated by citizen volunteers and supported by city staff who answered questions; groups used a booklet and worksheet to structure their discussion, and made decisions by majority vote.
Sample outcomes: City council adopted the main recommendations made by the participants, which included efficiency measures, user-fee increases, service reductions, and service expansions.
Benefits: Gathered a great deal of input on city budget and allowed citizens and officials to work through what could have been a highly contentious situation.
Challenges: Did not seem to enlist citizens and community groups in contributing their own effort and resources to public problem-solving.
Full story:
- Weeks, Edward C., "The Practice of Deliberative Democracy: Results from Four Large-Scale Trials," Public Administration Review 60.
Related resources:
- "Public Space Management in Downtown Eugene," http://www.downtowneugene.com, captured June 20th, 2005.
- "Changing the Way We Govern," Democratic Governance Panel, National League of Cities, 2006.
This case contributed by: Matt Leighninger, 2007