Kick-off for the 2022 citizens' budget

What do an information board on the Jägerberg, a ground trampoline on the west sports field and a swing at the Hugo youth center have in common? All of these projects exist in Jena thanks to the citizens' budget. Since 2019, part of the city of Jena's budget has been available only to residents. They can contribute their ideas on which projects should be implemented with the budget. And later, all residents aged 16 and over can vote on them.

New deadline for submissions

The proposal phase for the Jena Citizens' Budgetstarts a whole month earlier than last year.Jena residents once again have the opportunity to submittheir ideas for improvements in our city for a total of 100,000 euros . No more than 10,000 euros may be spent per proposal. The deadline for submission to the citizens' budget is 31.07.2021.

"This year, we have brought forward the deadline for submitting proposals. This gives us more time to review all proposals before the vote. Last year, we received 62 proposals, almost twice as many as in previous years.This is a very good sign that the citizens' budget is beingincreasingly well received.Despite the earlier start , once againhastwo full months tosubmit proposals . Of course, I hope to receive many proposals again, which Jena's residents can vote on," says Christian Gerlitz, Mayor and Head of Urban Development and Environment.

For a proposal to be valid and voted onin the fall , it must meet further requirements in addition to the upper limit of 10,000 euros. For example, it must serve the general public and the improvement must either be located in a public space or in publicly accessible areas or be accessible to the general public free of charge. All important information about the citizens' budget can be found on the city of Jena's participation portal at or on the online participation platform.

Online submission directly via the participation platform

For the first time this year, proposals can be submitted online via the participation platform. Registration is required for this. However, as voting will also take place via the platform this year, it is worth registering. And even beyond that, as the city's informal participation projects will be accessible online on this platform in future.

The Central Coordination Office for Citizen Participation will check the validity of the proposals. If a proposal is invalid, the coordination office will publish a justification on the participation platform for all to see.In addition, the coordination office is also availabletoadvise all interested parties and those submitting proposals.