South Lake Tahoe, CA…July 22, 2021 – The City of South Lake Tahoe has launched its participatory budget survey to assess community priorities in identifying which of 20 proposed projects should be funded by $5.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grants. The survey is being conducted online from July 22 through August 9 in partnership with Stanford Crowdsourced Democracy Team at no cost to the taxpayer.

The ARPA was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, which established a $130 billion Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund to provide funds for cities, counties, and special districts to mitigate the fiscal effects stemming from the public health emergency caused by COVID-19. The City of South Lake Tahoe, as a Non-Entitlement Government (population under 50,000), will be allocated $5,309,994.

Within the categories of eligible uses, recipients have broad flexibility to decide how best to use this funding to meet the needs of their communities. The City Council has developed a list of 20 proposed projects to which ARPA funding could be allocated, including housing, parks, aging infrastructure, and public safety building improvements. We are asking the public to review the projects and choose which ones they would like to see funded, up to the total allocation of $5.3 million. The anonymous survey will not allow respondents to go above this amount, ensuring fiscal responsibility in the allocation of funds. The list of proposed projects is available at https://www.cityofslt.us/ARPA and the Community Conversation featuring this topic may be streamed at City of South Lake Tahoe’s Facebook page.

The City Council will use the survey results in their discussion during the Budget Workshop scheduled for August 17 at 9am. To take the survey, visit https://pbstanford.org/2021-south-lake-tahoe.

Alternate Contact: Sheree Juarez, (530) 721-1271, sjuarez@cityofslt.us

###

City of South Lake Tahoe

The City of South Lake Tahoe is a general law city in El Dorado County, CA, that was founded on November 30, 1965. Located 190 miles northeast of San Francisco, CA and 60 miles southwest of Reno, NV in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, South Lake Tahoe boasts one of the most unique settings in the world, at the edge of an alpine lake of great natural beauty and environmental value. The city limits encompass an area of approximately 16 square miles with an average elevation of 6,200 feet above sea level and a population of 22,525.

Stanford Crowdsourced Democracy Team
Stanford Participatory Budgeting Platform allows cities, municipalities, states and foundations and other organizations to run a participatory budgeting (PB) election in which people can vote on the budget. This project is made by the Stanford Crowdsourced Democracy Team at Stanford University. The project is open-source and free.