Citizens’ Budget Brief

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

Maricopa County has a new online approach to resident engagement for the budget process—our annual online Citizens’ Budget Brief (CBB). This 11-page budget summary provides resident-focused information on the annual budget to increase transparency, comprehension and engagement in the Maricopa County budget. In the CBB, the budget is presented primarily through graphics and icon-assisted storytelling. The emphasis on pictorials is aesthetically engaging and easy for a novice of governmental budgeting to read and understand. More broadly, the overall goal of this strategy is to continue to engage citizens so they can fully participate in the governing process and build capacity in the co-responsibility of democratic governance. The online 2015 CBB was downloaded more than 40,000 times and is a shift in budget communications to leverage social media, local media coverage and provide a budget summary document which can be easily disseminated at public meetings. By placing citizens’ at the forefront of the budget communication process, it restores residents to their place as the owners of Maricopa County government and refocuses on the goal of full empowerment of residents as citizens—active partners in designing and building strong communities.