Our city is growing and changing. The next decade will bring increased demand on our services, as well as new challenges and opportunities that we must plan for now.

While the City of Melbourne is in a strong financial position, our funding is finite. Spending can’t keep pace with growth forever. We need to re-think the way we do business to ensure we can address our future financial challenges and help our city thrive now and into the future.

Melbourne City Councill has committed to a range of projects and long-term strategies which require funding over the next decade. This includes the largest investment in our history for the renewal of the Queen Victoria Market, an open space strategy and structure plans to accommodate population and jobs growth in key parts of the city. New works, community infrastructure and the renewal of existing assets and facilities will also continue to require significant funds.

In order to meet these commitments and provide a high level of services to the community into the future, we need to look forward, not planning year to year, but instead adopting a long-term approach to spending and revenue.

The City of Melbourne is engaging with the community about the 10-Year Financial Plan in two ways – through broad community engagement and via its People’s Panel.

The broad community engagement took place across the city from Wednesday 30 July to Friday 29 August. Anyone could have their say using the Budget Simulator and at a number of community events.

The City of Melbourne is well known for its strong commitment to legitimate community engagement. We have a long track record of involving the community in the decisions they are interested in and which impact upon them.

The views of Melburnians have helped shape a number of significant projects for our city, including the long-term plan for the future direction of city life (Future Melbourne), the redevelopment of Swanston Street, our Urban Forest Strategy and the renewal of the Queen Victoria Market.

We want to involve the community in the process of developing our 10-Year Financial Plan, making more collaborative decisions on our revenue and spending strategy.

The People’s Panel will comprise 43 residents, business owners and students who have been randomly selected to represent a broad cross-section of the City of Melbourne community.

From late August 2014, the People’s Panel will be given open access to information, expert opinion of its choosing and data over a three month period to inform its recommendations. As a group, the panel will be asked to consider and recommend its preferred balance of revenue and costs to Council.

Council will listen to the panel’s views and consider all recommendations when developing its 10 year financial plan. As part of this commitment, Council will meet with the panel and formally respond to all recommendations.

The People’s Panel has been selected.Only residents and businesses who received a letter from the Lord Mayor in late June were able to nominate for the panel. This is because we have conducted a random stratified process to ensure that the panel of 43 people reflect the demographic make up on the City of Melbourne.

Several steps were taken to determine that there should be 43 members on the People’s Panel. Forty-three is the recommended sample size for a population of 100,000 to 250 000, resulting in a confidence level of 95 per cent.

There are many ways you can look at this. While businesses provide a majority of income, residents make up a vast percentage of the city’s population. We believe that we have selected a model that balances opinion and ensures equal representation for residents and businesses.

Some parts of the People’s Panel assemblies will be declared open and members of the public and will be able to view the proceedings. Most times however the People’s panel will deliberate behind closed doors and will be supported by a facilitator and new Democracy.

The People’s Panel will meet five times between August and October this year, before making its recommendations to Council in November.

Information gathered from the budget simulator and broader community engagement will be presented to the People’s Panel as a summary report for their consideration when preparing their recommendations to Council.

From November, the City of Melbourne will start working on developing its 10-Year Financial Plan.

Council will listen to the panel’s views and consider all recommendations when developing its 10-Year Financial Plan. As part of this commitment, Council will meet with the panel and formally respond to all of its recommendations.

Information gathered from the budget simulator will be presented to the People’s Panel as a summary report for their consideration when preparing their recommendations to Council.

Panel members will be reimbursed $100 per panel session (a total of $500.00) upon completion. Meals will also be provided.