This year, for the fifth year in a row, Riga local government invited residents to be decision-makers in their neighbourhoods and vote for neighbourhood development ideas submitted by residents, until the end of October. More than 33,000 residents took part in the vote, selecting 10 ideas to be implemented by the local government over the next few years.
The Participatory Budget is an opportunity for citizens to decide how part of the city budget is spent, both by submitting neighbourhood development ideas and voting on which ones the municipality should implement. This year, funding for the Participatory Budget was €700,000, with a maximum of €70,000 per project.
Voting for all 30 neighbourhood development ideas submitted for the Participatory Budget competition took place on balso.riga.lv and in person at Neighbourhood Residents' Centre Customer Service Points, as well as at the Imanta and Iļguciems libraries, where 57 votes were received. Each resident was entitled to vote for one project. Any person aged 16 or over was eligible to participate in the vote.