Columbus launches “Our Voice, Our Choice” participatory budget: $9M for districts

Columbus City Council has launched a new participatory budgeting pilot called “Our Voice, Our Choice,” setting aside $9 million for neighborhood-focused capital projects that residents will ultimately help select.

The funding is structured as a district-by-district allocation: the city splits the $9 million evenly across nine council districts—$1 million per district.

$9 million total, split evenly across 9 districts

The “Our Voice, Our Choice” funding is tied to Columbus’ 2026 Capital Improvements Program (CIP). In the CIP, the City Council section includes a “City Council Participatory Budgeting” line item for $9,000,000.

How residents participate: submit project ideas online

Residents can submit proposal ideas through the program’s online submission portal, with local reporting describing the submission window as open until Aug. 28, 2026.

After the submission deadline, the city moves into a review and proposal-development period—WOSU reports the city expects that stage to take roughly about two months.

Voting comes later in 2026

This is a multi-step process, not a one-day vote. Axios reports that once proposals are developed, the public vote is scheduled to begin Nov. 2 and continue into early December.

That matters for readers: even if you submit a project idea early, the proposals that reach the ballot are the ones the city and the program’s process staff can develop as feasible capital projects within the program’s constraints.

What the city is (and isn’t) doing

Columbus City Council passed Resolution 0127X-2026 to accept the Participatory Budget Steering Committee’s recommendations for establishing the “Our Voice, Our Choice” budget and to “acknowledge the city’s role in supporting” the remaining phases of the resident-driven process. The resolution’s background also notes the $9 million is “evenly distributed among the 9 council districts.”

Separately, Council legislation for 0500-2026 includes authorization for a service agreement providing expert consultation and support throughout the participatory budgeting process, backed by an appropriation within the city’s budget structure (the ordinance text also describes why the city is using an outside consultant for these services).

What you should do now

• Find your council district so you can focus on the correct $1 million allocation.
• Write down your project idea with enough detail for reviewers to understand what you want and where in your district it would happen.
• Submit by Aug. 28, 2026—that is the most time-sensitive step for residents.

Then, as the city reviews and develops proposals, watch for details on which ideas make it to the resident vote later in November and early December 2026.

Sources

• WOSU (Columbus) — City Council participatory budget launch (resident timeline, submission deadline, voting timing)
• Axios Columbus — New Columbus resident program lets residents decide the budget (how it runs district-by-district)
• City of Columbus — 2026 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) document with $9,000,000 participatory budgeting line item
• Columbus City Council Legistar — Resolution 0127X-2026 (Our Voice, Our Choice steering committee recommendations)