Jena residents can decide - the vote on the 2022 citizens' budget begins

From Saturday, 01.10.22,residents aged 16 and over can vote on the valid proposals online or via ballot paper for five weeks. This year, all valid proposals can beviewed and voted on sitefrom 05.10.22at the Stadtwerke Jena Customer Center, the Winzerla district office and theLISA district center. Voting will run until 12.11.22.

From 01.06.to 31.07. suggestions could be submitted by the urbancommunity . A total of 73 proposals were received by the CentralCoordination Office for Citizen Participation during this period. All proposals were checked by the administration to see whether they complied with the regulations. If a proposal is invalid, the administration provides a justification, which can be found on the website. The results were discussed in the Citizen Participation Advisory Board on 27.09.22 and now 29 proposalscan go to the vote.

"My hope for numerous suggestions that will make Jena even more liveable has been exceeded this year. I would like to thank all those who submitted proposals for their many ideas. The total amount of proposals is more than twice as high as the total budget available. Now it's up to the people of Jena to votefor their favorites," - says Christian Gerlitz, Mayor and Head of the Department for Urban Development and the Environment.

Specifically, the total amount is €237 ,030, with €100,000 available in the overall budget. The residents of now have the choice of which measures the €100,000 should go towards. There were various reasons why fewer than half of the proposals were put to the vote this year. The budget cap of €10,000 was a common reason. For some proposals, the issue was not within the city's remit and there were also some proposals that were already in the planning stage due to city council resolutions or city administration projects.

The rules of the citizens' budget stipulate that only people who live in Jena and are at least 16 years old can vote. Registration is therefore required for online voting. Personal data must be entered on the ballot papers. This year, it is again possible to post the ballot papers not only in the city's deadline letterbox (Am Anger 15), but also at the voting locations at Stadtwerke Jena Kundencenter (Saalstraße 8a), Stadtteilbüro Winzerla (Anna-Siemsen-Str. 49), Stadtteilzentrum LISA (Werner-Seelenbinder-Straße 28a).

All explanations and the ballot papers are available on the city of Jena's participation platform.