SEQUIM – If your city council gave you $100,000 to spend on a project that would make your town a better place to live, how would you spend the money?

The City of Sequim is doing exactly that, give or take about $50,000.

It’s called The People’s Project and, sometime in May, residents will be asked to vote on their favorite idea.

Finance Director Sue Hagener says the project first took root in Sequim in 2017.

It’s called Participatory Budgeting. The concept started in Brazil in 1989, and since then it has spread to over 3,000 cities around the world and has been used to decide budgets from states, counties, cities, and other institutions. The New York Times calls Participatory Budgeting “revolutionary civics in action”.

We asked Hagener to gives us some examples of what folks came up with. They might not be what you think.

City staff are now in the process of whittling the list down and anticipate having 5–9 projects on which to vote. Their goal is to have a complete project listing by the end of March.

Hagener says the final spending amount will depend on the project or projects that are chosen by the people, but probably somewhere between $50,000 and $150,000.

Voting will take place right around the time of the Irrigation Festival in May.