Cincinnati residents can now go online to offer suggestions for neighborhood projects they think should be funded in the next city budget.
Council last month approved the spending plan for the current fiscal year, but city spokesman Rocky Merz said officials are already looking ahead to the next budget. Council will vote on the budgets for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 next June.
"We've always had an opportunity for community councils to formally submit their input about community projects they'd like to see," Merz said. "And now we are opening it up to anybody, whether it's formally through a community council or just an individual who has an idea, they can quickly, simply, easily file a form, send that information into us and we'll consider it as we're creating the budget."
Some residents complained at this year's public budget hearings that they only had two minutes to offer their comments as the city's budget process was coming to a close.
"We don't want to get too far down the track in terms of developing a budget without having received feedback," Merz said. "If you're getting the feedback at the end, sometimes the train has already left the station. So we're looking for initial ideas, doesn't have to be completely fleshed out, just any good ideas. We want to hear them."
Besides the online neighborhood project suggestion form, Merz said officials will be rolling out additional opportunities for feedback in the coming weeks.
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