Is the New Jersey requirement for local municipalities to create a User-Friendly Budget really going to increase citizen engagement in local government? Are more citizens going to be interested in local government or local politics due to this new requirement by the division of local government services? The answer to this may not yet be known in the State of New Jersey, however, this literature review is going to review several different criteria’s that might answer these questions. First off, this review will examine the existing research into why there was need to create the User-Friendly Budget form based on the issues with the citizens being able to understand the entire budget document. Secondly, research will be reviewed on how others
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The current belief is that we will see more citizens attending local government meetings and being more actively involved in the budgeting processes. This is due to idea that the User-Friendly Budgets will allow citizens to better understand the under revenues and expenses of their local municipalities. Citizens will also have a better understanding of the debt service requirements and the pension liabilities, as they will be explained in an easy to understand …show more content…
Citizen input is used as a way to reduce citizen distrust in government and as a way to educate people. Therefore public meetings are the best way to get information from citizens, but participation tends to be extremely low. A study was conducted in two different cities in Kansas, Topeka and Wichita. 40 people in total, with 20 people in each city were given a set of three research questions. The questions explored: i) has citizen participation been effective in these cities?; (ii) what factors have influenced the effectiveness of participation? For example, are there political or environmental contextual variables that may affect the value of participation?; and (iii) how might experiences and lessons from these cities be applicable to other governments?. The results of these questions, found out that citizen participation has not really been effective due to issues such as trust among citizens and their respective local
The current belief is that we will see more citizens attending local government meetings and being more actively involved in the budgeting processes. This is due to idea that the User-Friendly Budgets will allow citizens to better understand the under revenues and expenses of their local municipalities. Citizens will also have a better understanding of the debt service requirements and the pension liabilities, as they will be explained in an easy to understand …show more content…
Citizen input is used as a way to reduce citizen distrust in government and as a way to educate people. Therefore public meetings are the best way to get information from citizens, but participation tends to be extremely low. A study was conducted in two different cities in Kansas, Topeka and Wichita. 40 people in total, with 20 people in each city were given a set of three research questions. The questions explored: i) has citizen participation been effective in these cities?; (ii) what factors have influenced the effectiveness of participation? For example, are there political or environmental contextual variables that may affect the value of participation?; and (iii) how might experiences and lessons from these cities be applicable to other governments?. The results of these questions, found out that citizen participation has not really been effective due to issues such as trust among citizens and their respective local