Would You Like a Receipt With That?

Whitney Afonso, PhDNC City & County Communicators 2015

Citizen Engagement: Budget Perspective

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I work with budget officers. I start with: Why? How? Outcomes?

The budget is a traditional point of access for citizen engagement. Why? What do you all do with the budget?

Traditional Ways to Relay Budget Info

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Traditional budget Hard to navigate Build a roadmap

Fact sheets Hard to decide what to present Keep it in lay language with graphics

Videos Public access

Taken from Stephens (2011)

“Phases” of Engagement

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Phase 1: Information Phase 2: Consultation Phase 3: Active participation

Where do most of our efforts fall?

A Taxpayer Receipt

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Examples

Bulletin

Taxpayer Receipts

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History Third Way

“Radical centrists” think tank 2010: Suggest federal receipt

http://www.thirdway.org/publications/335

Idea picks up traction NPR- Planet Money

2010: Jacob Goldstein

Taxpayer Receipts

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2011 interview: Who knows how much of our tax dollar went to develop

clean energy or reduce our dependence on foreign oil? You know, that’s just one of the reasons we feel disconnected from our government, and we think a tax receipt would help give people an idea where their tax dollars go.- David Kendall from Third Way

White House Responds April 2011: Taxpayer Receipt is launched

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State & Local Examples

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Still new Not common at state or local level yet

Georgia Created by State Senator Doug Stoner http://dougstoner.com/taxpayer2013/

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The Connecticut Example

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This is the one we will discuss the most

It is not dynamic like the federal, GA, or NYC example

It is not just a % of spending breakdown

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Differences

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What are the primary differences between Georgia and Connecticut? Advantages? Disadvantages?

Which is more feasible for your local government?

Creating a Taxpayer Receipt

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For the dynamic one like GA and NYC Just need to have a programmer and a website Plug in the percentages and have it calculate the

dollars after user inputs it Disclaimer I am not a programmer!

For the CT style Do not need a programmer Can add values to the dollar amounts More room for policy

Steps to Create CT Style

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Assumption: Only property taxes included

Step 1: Find either per capita property tax burden or average household property tax burden for your local government Burden will be lower if per capita More people may relate to household total

I will use household

Steps to Create CT Style

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Step 2: Look at what property taxes fund in your government and what percentage they make up of that funding This is where property taxes are going!

Step 3: Decide on the categories of spending The big ones, but any smaller sub-categories you

want to highlight Think about your audience and priorities Want to avoid too much “other”

Steps to Create CT Style

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Step 4: For each of the categories of spending see what percentage of spending from property tax revenue they represent

Step 5: Multiply the tax burden by the percentages I do this, like CT, on a monthly basis

So a 1/12th of the total tax burden This will not effect your percentages

Steps to Create CT Style

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Step 6: Find other similarly priced items Try to make them relevant to your area

Or at least fairly universal and recognizable

Steps to Create CT Style

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Step 7: Format Keep it simple! Keep clusters of spending together Think about how it will be disseminated

Can you include hyperlinks? Will you be printing it?

Black and white vs color How long?

You want to explain your methodology and where the #s come from

Orange County’s Taxpayer Receipt

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Why a Receipt?

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Information on the scope of what your jurisdiction does.

Information on the cost associated with these services.

Research has shown that citizens are more willing to pay for services: When governments can link revenues with

services When they understand the need and the

relationship between cost on provision

But other tools can do that…

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People are accustomed to receiving a receipt when they make payments

Can put their payments into perspective: Is that service worth that to me?

Risks of a Receipt

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Easily manipulated. What are some of the ways it can be manipulated?

How do we avoid that?

Will this work for you?

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Take a few minutes and discuss at your table what you are already doing Information sharing Consultation Active participation

Are there groups you are missing?

Are you already communicating this information effectively?

Is this something you would try in your community?

Involving the Budget Office

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Keep in mind, many of them will immediately think:

Conclusion

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Engagement can mean lots of different things Need to consider your ultimate goal

How you want to use feedback, if you solicit it There are numerous “low cost” options to

create tools for disseminating information Receipts Bar charts

Let me know! I would like to hear about your experiences and if you try one. afonso@sog.unc.edu

http://sogpubs.unc.edu/electronicversions/pdfs/pmb08.pdf

Looking to Engage Beyond Informing?

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Fairfax County, VA Can you create a better budget?

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Better Budget?

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Not just informing though Though it is

They are soliciting feedback about how “you” would spend the money

Resources

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Berner, M. M., Amos, J. M., & Morse, R. S. (2011). What constitutes effective citizen participation in local government? Views from city stakeholders. Public Administration Quarterly, 35(1), 128-163.

Jimenez, B. S. (2013). Raise Taxes, Cut Services, or Lay Off Staff: Citizens in the Fiscal Retrenchment Process. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Stephens, John B. 2011, Creating Effective Citizen Participation in Local Government Budgeting: Practical Tips and Examples for Elected Officials and Budget Administrators,  Public Management Bulletin #06,  Chapel Hill, NC: School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 37 pages.

Connecticut Taxpayer Receipt: http://www.ctvoices.org/sites/default/files/bud12cttaxpayerreceipt.pdf

Fairfax County, Virginia: Build a better budget http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/braddock/pdfs/letter-simulation.pdf

Whitney Afonso afonso@sog.unc.edu