Participative budget in Mariánské Hory continues
Governance
Sustainable Land Use
Next year, the municipal district Mariánské Hory a Hulváky will continue to implement its scheme ‘The District for People – People for the District’. The scheme is based on the principles of participative budgeting; citizens have the opportunity to propose their own ideas for various projects to be funded by the district’s budget. It is now moving into its second year; the deadline for submitting proposals to be funded from the 2018 budget was the end of October 2017. Around 30 proposed projects are now being assessed by the Town Hall to determine which of them are viable. All the projects that are evaluated as viable will then be put to a public vote; the citizens of Mariánské Hory a Hulváky will thus have a direct say in distributing 1.5 million CZK from the municipal district’s budget.
Most of the proposed projects focus on investments in public spaces – not only repairs, but also the creation of new facilities. There are also some projects focusing on culture and sport. The district’s Mayor Liana Janáčková gave more details:
The participative budget gives us a unique opportunity to find out what local people would like to change and improve. This year we have received a large number of very interesting proposals. Even if some of them prove not to be viable, or if they do not gain the support of the general public in the vote, they still represent a valuable source of feedback for us regarding where we should channel investments going forward. All the ideas are useful to us, and none of them will be ignored.
All the projects selected to proceed to the voting round will be posted on the website in January 2018; the municipal district will also publish a special brochure about the participative budget. The on-line public vote will be held in February, and in March citizens will be able to vote in person (at the Town Hall).
Deputy Mayor Patrik Hujdus gave details about last year’s winning projects, which have already been (or will soon be) implemented. The overall winner of the public vote – an international children’s football tournament – took place in May at the TJ Slovan Ostrava sports club. Other projects already implemented include new children’s play areas on Klicperova St., at the Fifejdy I housing estate, and in Hulváky (between Žákovská St. and Lázeňská St.). Other projects that were allocated funding thanks to the public vote on last year’s participative budget include safety alarms for 15 senior citizens and the repair of the fountain outside the church at Stojanovo náměstí. Hujdus explained why this last project is not yet complete:
The fountain repair is the only project from the last participative budget that has not yet been fully implemented. The delay is due to technical complications which we encountered during the first stages of the repair work. There’s no point fitting a new water jet system during the winter, so the project will be completed in the spring.