Participatory budget: Citizens called upon to submit their projects

For 2024, the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion is pursuing its commitment to promote a culture of public participation, as stipulated in aspiration 5 of the 2020 -2025 strategic plan entitled Habité par ma ville. The City is therefore pleased to invite citizens to submit a project by September 30th as part of the fourth edition of its participatory budget.

Like last year, this participatory budget consists of a general component of $65,000 and a youth component of $10,000. It is important to note that the Fonds communautaire Écoprojets, with a budget of $25,000, will again take place next spring. The latter, as its name suggests, is intended for environmental projects. This amounts to a total budget of $100,000 dedicated to citizen participation.

"Participatory budgeting is an initiative that allows citizens to familiarize themselves with the budgetary process. The citizen submits a project, and the City carries it out. This results in a great collaboration between the citizens and the departments involved. Last year, we added the youth category to allow 12 to 17 year olds to have their say. I therefore encourage our citizens to participate in large numbers and to seize this opportunity to see a project they truly care about come to fruition," said Mayor Guy Pilon.

General Category

Any Vaudreuil-Dorion citizen aged 18 and over can submit a project individually or as part of a team. This participation is on a personal and not a professional basis. Associations and corporations are not eligible to submit a project, since they have access to the City’s funding programs. On the other hand, a citizen could submit a project and be supported by an organization or institution.

Youth Category

This component is intended for anyone living in Vaudreuil-Dorion between the ages of 12 and 17 accompanied by an adult to countersign the form and the supporting documents.

Eligibility Requirements

The eligibility requirements, regulations and participation form are available on the City’s website under Citizen Participation. The period to submit a project runs from August 27th to September 30th. The projects selected will be submitted to the popular vote to be held between November 4th and 22nd.

2023 edition

During the 2023 participatory budget, four projects were selected from the general category among the eleven projects received. Citizens voted in favour of the Outdoor Training Modules, a project submitted by citizens Marc Chalifoux, Olivier Charbonneau and Martine Desrosiers. The City’s teams are currently working with the three citizens to outline the general concept and identify suitable modules.

In the youth category, one of the four applications received met the eligibility requirements and became the winning project in this category. The project was submitted by Alexandria Diardichuk-Marinakis and is entitled Jeunes artistes de Vaudreuil-Dorion: Paysages en fleurs. The young citizen, along with urban artist Fluke from the non-profit organization Kolab, have begun the ideation phase of the mural that will be painted in September on one of the exterior walls of the filtration plant.

Coordination Committee

The Coordination Committee is made up of representatives from the Communications Department, Finance and Treasury, Recreation and Culture, Urban Development, and the Engineering and Environment Department. This committee is responsible for reviewing the admissibility of projects according to the eligibility requirements, examining the files and selecting the projects that will be submitted for voting by the public.

The winning project will be unveiled at the extraordinary budget session on December 9th, 2024. For any questions on the matter, please send an email to budgetparticipatif@ville.vaudreuil-dorion.qc.ca.