The City of Long Beach FY 2021 Budget Exercise - Final Report

This budgeting exercise was designed by the Stanford Crowdsourced Democracy Team. The purpose was to both allow residents of Long Beach to gain insights in the budgeting trade-offs, and let them provide input to the City for their FY2021 budget process.
The survey was first published on August 4 and responses were collected until September 4. The survey was designed in coordination with the City of Long Beach budgeting department. The City is facing a budget shortfall of about $ 30 million, and in this exercise the residents are asked to choose between various budgeting policies that would together add up to address that deficit.
The survey consisted of two sections: Budget and Demographics. The exercise was presented as a ”glimpse of some of the tough choices managers have to make in balancing the City’s budget”. The exercise did not pretend to represent the City’s proposed budget or adds/cuts that are up for consideration, but rather stand-ins.