FREEHOLD – The Freehold Borough Innovation Committee will host several meetings to inform residents about a new program that is known as participatory budgeting.
According to Councilman Ron Griffiths, participatory budgeting will allow residents to present ideas and eventually vote on how $200,000 of the 2017 municipal budget should be spent. He said the program will not increase the budget or taxes.
Meetings have been scheduled for 7 p.m. March 9 and 7 p.m. March 13 at Borough Hall, 51 W Main St. Griffiths and members of the Innovation Committee will explain participatory budgeting.
“We are not increasing our capital budget,” the councilman said. “We are simply allowing residents to tell us how they want to allocate this portion of the budget. Elected officials do not have a monopoly on good ideas. We want to work with the public, as well as work for them.”
Griffiths said a participatory budgeting program has been presented in more than 1,500 municipalities around the world, but does not appear to have been implemented any other New Jersey municipality.
As stated on the Freehold Borough website, the goals of participatory budgeting are to expand and diversify civic engagement, to have meaningful social and community impact, to promote sustainable public good, to create easy and meaningful public engagement and to promote civic-mindedness.
All residents of the borough age 14 and older are eligible to submit ideas and to vote for the ideas that are accepted.
