Background

The first public discussion of draft budget in the Municipality of Dobrich-city was initiated in 1999 by the Citizen Activity Association. The discussion was held at the municipal conference room. Citizens, business representatives, municipal councilors, the mayor s team and municipal employees were invited to attend. However, the citizens were not very active and the discussion involved mainly the mayor s team and municipal councilors. In 2000, the public discussion was organized and held together by the Municipality and the Citizen Activity Association. A new methodology for gradual introduction of citizens to budget development procedures was developed. Different mechanisms of encouraging citizen participation were used, both through the media and through the neighborhood representatives of the Association. As a result, citizen participation increased significantly and a set of specific proposals on the use of alternative funding sources for municipal projects was developed.

Practice

Thanks to the effective cooperation of the Municipality and the many active NGOs in the city, the public discussion of important issues has become a usual practice for the Municipality of Dobrich-city. The topics are related either to important events or to upcoming municipal initiatives. The discussion may be initiated by the citizens with regard to a specific neighborhood problem or by NGOs, based on regular polls. The 2000 municipal budget discussion was the most visited and most effective one. It was held in three stages, within a period of three weeks:
within the Municipal Council standing committees: Through the media, the citizens were invited to participate in draft budget discussions in those standing committees that would be most interesting to them;
within the electronic media: In order to widely promote the municipal budget development process, the media broadcasted interviews with citizens, discussions with experts from the Municipality and the Tax Directorate and a special TV program. The 2000 budget parameters were presented in graphic format that also included a comparison to the previous year. The 2000 priority expenditures and municipal investment program were also presented;
within the neighborhood centers: The materials that were used for the TV program were also posted on the Citizen Activity Association s billboards. A series of neighborhood meetings between citizens, business people and municipal representatives were held to discuss the draft budget and citizens proposals for alternative funding sources.

The Municipal Council reviewed all citizen proposals. Some of these were related to legislative changes and were submitted to the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria.

Results

The public discussion of the 2000 municipal budget has outlined three major trends in the relations between the Municipality and the citizens:
stronger citizen participation and clear understanding of budget development and investment priorities identification processes;
increased local government interest in trying to find solutions to the most immediate local problems in cooperation with the citizens;
improved mutual trust between citizens and local government.

The public discussion of the 2000 draft budget has also resulted into the development of a set of proposals in three major areas:
on the more effective use of municipal property that is either leased or used for public purposes;
on the more effective utilization of available human and natural resources;
on legislative changes, more specifically in the Healthcare Establishments Act and in the budget development methodology.