Electronic Citizen Participation in Local Government Decision Making; Applications for Public Budgeting.

This paper examines the use of electronic means of citizen participation (primarily the use of social media) in selected budget and finance functions of local government in the United States. E-government and electronic participation have received increased attention as tools that 21st Century governments utilize to interface with citizens in the conduct of the public's business. This study employs a survey approach to describe and catalog a purposeful sample of local governments in the United States as a preliminary effort to determine the range and scope and capacity of local government to utilize input gleaned from these forms of citizen participation as tools to guide decisions on resource allocation and spending decisions. A survey was administered to 250 local governments to build a descriptive data set. Jurisdiction size, finance capacity, and other organizational characteristics have been collected and assembled to produce a matrix of the types and usage of electronic forms of participation from each jurisdiction. In addition to the construction of a data set of these local governments, 15 jurisdictions from the State of Georgia have been selected for more in-depthanalysis. Elite interviews were conducted with local government officials in those jurisdictions to develop a qualitative dimension to this study. Though there have been several similar studies conducted across the globe, the fast pace of technology and evolving patterns of adaptation and the struggle of local governments to keep pace presents a need for updating and analyzing current applications and lessons learned. This present paper focuses on one case study in this broader project. Survey results and preliminary analysis will be shared from local governments in the State of Georgia in the United States. Although there are inherent limitations in the presentation of single case study results, it is indicative and representative of trends discovered in the broader survey results. Preliminary findings and observations suggest despite important advances in the use of social media and related technologies to engage citizens, the application for budget and finance functions in local governments in the State of Georgia (and in other US local governments) remains uneven, reflects limited utility and still receives relatively low priority from government officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]