Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, started its Budget Public Engagement Initiative in 2019 to encourage public participation in the annual budget process while also increasing fiscal transparency and accessibility. Seeing a need to improve the community’s engagement with the decisions being made about the county budget, the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners asked the county’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop a strategy. The OMB went on to develop a robust and sustainable program that would provide access to residents who wanted to be involved with the county’s budget process. The resulting Budget Public Engagement Initiative gives residents transparent access to county budget information and a say in budget priorities.

Mecklenburg County made use of GFOA's Best Practice titled Public Engagement in the Budget Process to to win GFOA's 2020 Award for Excellence in Governance Finance.

• Publication date: December 2020