The city budget process is opaque. We need more opportunities for participatory budgeting

Unknown. Opaque. Obscure. Confusing.

These are the words we hear when we ask Philadelphians, “What is one word that comes to mind when you think about the city budget?”

The budget is more than a financial plan — it’s a blueprint for Philadelphia’s future — so what does it mean that so many find it incomprehensible?

One of the things we do at the People’s Budget Office — a collaborative art project housed within the Mural Arts program and funded by the William Penn Foundation and the City of Philadelphia — is to try to help Philadelphians understand how the city budget works.

Between March and May, we surveyed more than 600 Philadelphians about the budget process and funding priorities.

We learned that most Philadelphians feel alienated from, and uninformed about, the budget process. More than 80% of those responding said they had never engaged with the city’s budgeting process and were unaware they could participate. Furthermore, respondents told us that they don’t know how to get involved, and more tellingly, many feel that their voices do not matter.

Many view the city budget as confusing and misaligned, with only 24% agreeing that it reflects their community’s needs.

With City Council’s preliminary approval last week of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s ask for the general fund, the proposed wage and business tax cuts and her signature housing plan, we find ourselves wondering how different the $6.8 billion budget could look if Philadelphians had more significant input.

“Budget season” starts with Mayor Parker’s budget address in March and continues with City Council’s public hearings through May. That stretch from March through May is the only time when the administration and City Council does budget outreach.

The administration shares the mayor’s vision for the budget through large-scale town halls in every council district in the city. City Council conducts its own town halls, with time for public comment, and public testimony days in Council chambers.

While advocates may campaign for major investments in essential services like affordable housing, public transportation, and education through public testimony or at Council’s town halls, the budget process is not designed to accommodate systemic change.

But our budget process doesn’t have to be the way it has always been.

We can implement people-first creative solutions and invest in a budgeting process that allows Philadelphians’ voices to be included at every step — from shaping the documents themselves to forming the frameworks that guide the budget.

Philadelphia’s residents deserve a budget process that values their voices.

The 101 & 201 workshops the People’s Budget Office offers across the city, for example, help people learn to break down the budget process and dive deeper into key funding priorities.

To create a thriving city, however, we first have to imagine it. Art allows us to see the city from new perspectives, so in our installation at LOVE Park we invite artists to research and interpret the budget.

The resulting artworks are varied: a comic book about safety and mental health resources, large-format prints that capture the city’s responses to climate change, a zine about the fight to save libraries from closing.

And we provide pathways for advocacy — partnering with community groups, engaging in strategic outreach, and meeting with City Council members at City Hall.

We hope our work can spur a renewed interest in participatory budgeting, where citizens decide how public funds are allocated through a democratic process.

In 2021, Philadelphia embarked on a participatory budgeting project of $1 million, a tiny fraction of the total city budget, and pivoted to gathering feedback through neighborhood workshops and focus groups. These opportunities to learn about the budget in small groups, with trusted community messengers, were vital for residents and City Hall to gather nuanced feedback that was ultimately tracked through the budget process.

Any participatory budgeting process should include these kinds of workshops, and start when the budget is being created in the fall.

Philadelphia’s residents deserve a budget process that values their voices. It should be transparent and accessible to ensure that all Philadelphians, regardless of background, age, or experience, have a say in how their city is built and resourced.

We urge Mayor Parker and City Council to embrace real participatory budgeting, starting now, as the next budget takes shape — not as a symbolic gesture, but as a commitment to democracy itself.

Philadelphians know what their neighborhoods need. It’s time we trust them to help shape our city’s future.

Phoebe Bachman is a Philadelphia-based artist and the facilitating artist of the People’s Budget Office. Sarah Bishop-Stone is an organizer, artistic producer, and the project manager of the People’s Budget Office.