Cleveland City Issue 1 - Proposed Charter Amendment: People's Budget Initiative

Shall the Charter of the City of Cleveland be amended by enacting new Sections 204-1, 204-2, 204-3, 204-4, 204-5, 204-6, 204-7 and 204-8 in Chapter 41 to implement the People's Budget (or ""PB"") process by which residents make binding decisions on how to spend a portion of public money; to require the City to establish the People's Budget Fund (PB Fund) and require the City allocate to such fund after the adoption of this amendment $350,000 in the first year for the initial administrative costs, with such amount increasing two percent (2%) each subsequent year, and amounts equal to the following percentages from the respective previous year's adopted City's general fund budget: one percent (1%) the second year, one and a half percent (1.5%) the third year, and two percent (2%) the fourth year and thereafter; to provide that the PB Fund will be used for both capital expenses and time-bound programmatic expenses in two categories: funds used to implement city-wide projects, and funds used to implement neighborhood-specific projects; and provide that the People's Budget Steering Committee will allocate PB funding equitably by neighborhoods (Statistical Planning Areas), or clusters of neighborhoods, ensuring residents age 13 and up of every neighborhood have an opportunity to vote through as system developed and administered by the PB Committee for projects specific to their neighborhood or neighborhood cluster; to establish the People's Budget Steering Committee (Committee) consisting of ten (10) City residents age 16 and older appointed by the Mayor and Council and one (1) member a City staff person; to provide the Committee will adopt rules to administer and implement the People's Budget and oversee the use of the PB Fund, hire evaluators and enter into contracts to monitor and facilitate the process; to provide that contracts for winning projects are exempt from approval by the City Council and Mayor, and Charter Section 108 will not be applicable to contracts and expenditures pursuant to this amendment; and provide the Committee will strive to prioritize project partners that are accountable to local, Black, AAPI, Latinx, Indigenous, immigrant, LGBTQ+, disabled, and working class communities?