Participatory Budgeting as an Innovation in Local Public Services Delivery: The Slovak Case

The marketization of public services brings among other objectives also an increase in public expenditure efficiency, improvements in public services quality and co-creation in public services provision. In this article we analyze participatory budgeting that can be perceived as an innovative tool for an effective management of public services delivery. Participatory budgeting enables better allocation of public sources according to citizen's needs. By involving the citizens in decision making concerning the local government's spending, the participatory budgeting also enables co-creation of the public services and helps to increase the quality of public services. The goal of this article is to analyze the participatory budgeting in Slovakia whether it is a tool for increasing effectiveness and efficiency of public services delivery as well as tool for increase of citizen involvement at the local level. Main findings, obtained through qualitative analysis, point out that participatory budgeting enables better allocation of public sources according to citizen's needs.