Is it budget season yet? For many organizations, it can feel like the ink is barely dry on a new fiscal budget before it’s time to start thinking about the budget process.
What’s worse, budget engagement is hard. Dollars are finite; opinions aren’t. Public narratives about “cuts” or “spending” can spiral before facts land. You need a way to ground the conversation in constraints and choices.
That’s why we built the Budget Simulator question format: a simple, structured exercise where residents allocate a fixed budget. When funding goes up in one area, it must come down in another. It turns debate into data—and helps you show your work.
Traditional surveys can’t force the subtle tradeoffs of budgeting. The Budget Simulator question format hands residents a fixed budget and asks them to divvy it up—introducing the same real‑world constraints you manage every day. Boost funding here, cut it there. This enforced scarcity creates cost‑aware priorities you can measure, while educating residents on the tough tradeoffs.
Read the step‑by‑step setup guide →
How the Budget Simulator works
Add the Budget Simulator question to your project, set a total budget (and optional minimum spend), and add projects as cards with titles, descriptions, images, and optional max costs. Participants use sliders to allocate funds; the interface shows a live remaining balance and blocks overspending. On the admin side, choose a 1–4 column layout, set image ratios, randomize project order to reduce bias, and capture contact info for follow‑up. Participants can edit submissions until you close the question; after closing, results remain visible in view‑only mode.
Why we built it
Budgets are highly contentious and without understanding the challenging constraints and tradeoffs, residents may fall prey to warped narratives that disparage local leaders and staff.
The Budget Simulator brings fiscal reality into the exercise, forcing trade‑offs so residents experience the same constraints you manage. The outcome is more realistic, defensible guidance you can take to your elected officials and leadership.
When it’s valuable for cities and counties
Use it early during annual budgeting cycles, capital project selection, bond or referendum packages, grant allocations, participatory budgeting exercises, and comprehensive plan priorities across themes like parks, housing, or public safety. It’s also effective for mid‑year reallocations or deficit scenarios—any time you need community input that goes beyond wish lists and reflects real choices. If your organization is facing tough tradeoffs and looking to do more with less, read more about how Frederick County, Maryland used PublicInput to increase their budget engagement.
See the Budget Simulator in Action
Watch this quick video to see how the PublicInput Budget Simulator turns budget debates into hands-on decisions—letting residents allocate funds, make trade-offs, and shape data-driven outcomes.
Ready to modernize your Budget engagement?
Book a 30-minute demo today and see how easy world-class public engagement can be.
