Bureaucratic hurdles would double cost of Burnsville neighborhood grants

On the surface, it sounds like an intriguing idea. Burnsville residents get the chance to decide how to spend some of their city taxes on projects in their neighborhoods. The plan calls for the city to provide ten grants of $10,000 to pay for approved neighborhood improvements. But at a recent city council meeting to fine tune the concept, the Star Tribune says a big problem cropped up.

It turns out that letting residents weigh in on how Burnsville should spend money could be more expensive than the city bargained for.

An experiment in letting residents direct where some tax dollars will go could cost two to three times more to administer than the $100,000 it would let residents spend, Burnsville staff revealed at a work session last week. Still, the city’s “participatory budgeting” project — an innovative idea tried mostly in larger U.S. cities such as Boston and Oakland, Calif. — will continue, with staff sharing more specifics in September.

The bureaucratic costs may be pocket change in the big cities that have tried it. But it adds up to real money in the case of suburban Burnsville.

City staff estimated administering the pilot will take 2,500 to 3,500 staff hours — the equivalent of $170,000 to $240,000 the first year — at a time when the city’s staff is stretched thin and there’s no budget for hiring. Other costs, including promoting it, would add $30,000 to $50,000, said Bethany Brewer, Burnsville’s strategic initiatives director.

Council Member Dan Kealey emphasized that costs associated with staff hours didn’t require new money but would use existing, salaried staff.

Not only would the accounting, paperwork and oversight cost far more than the amount doled out. One city councilor maintains the program would be redundant, given city programs for neighborhoods already in place.

Up to half a million dollars a year to do this thing?” said Council Member Dan Gustafson. “We have existing programs in place to get into our neighborhoods already without having to put together a new program.”

Gustafson said he’s now a “no” vote on the pilot; Council Member Vince Workman said though he’s not opposed to it, he’s also worried that costs are “creeping up.”

After vetting the seemingly innovative idea, you might expect the city to scrap it. Unfortunately, that’s not how government usually works. The city councilor who’s championed participatory budgeting insists the costs of red tape could be significantly reduced.

But [councilor Cara] Schulz said in an interview she believes the program will be significantly smaller than what was presented at the work session and require a fraction of the staff time discussed.

Staff had posed five questions to the council, including how to determine neighborhood boundaries and who will provide guidance to the staff making it happen.

Go figure. A program to let taxpayers have more say in how their money gets spent winds up costing residents even more. At this point, the Burnsville City Council appears set on moving forward next month.