By Melanie Snyder
Dec 17, 2025
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Over 400 people voted on project proposals to receive city funding through the participatory budget process this year, none one of which will receive any.
“I’m upset. I’m angry, disappointed, all of it,” said Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi.
The participatory budget process asks residents to vote for projects they think should receive funding from the city. Following a citywide vote on nine different proposals earlier this month, a discussion and vote on the matter was held at Monday night’s city council meeting.
“These are high-impact, low-dollar ways that the city can impact the community,” Minita Sanghvi said about the participatory budget proposals.
This year, the fourth cycle of the participatory budget, the theme was designated “The year of the child.” City residents and local nonprofits submitted proposals that involve helping kids learn, be healthier or have fun.
None of the proposals passed after a city council vote.
The proposals were voted on individually. Sanghvi and Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Morran voted yes to all proposals and Mayor John F. Safford and Commissioner of Public Safety Tim Coll voted no to all. Commissioner of Public Works Chuck Marshall abstained from voting on three out of four proposals and voted no on one.
Sanghvi called the results of the vote “truly heartless.”
The four proposals that received the most votes out of the nine on the original list: a kids’ concert series for the Caffe Lena folk club ($12,700); a new art room kiln for Division Street Elementary ($5,900); a paint and sip art night for students and families from Division Street Elementary ($800); and a Pitney Meadows exploration garden expansion ($30,000).
Caffe Lena would have been one of the recipients of the funds if the city had voted to release them.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome, but my greater disappointment is in the process,” Caffe Lena Executive Director Sarah Craig said.
“All these nonprofits spent hours putting together what they thought were good proposals and keeping with the theme for this year and submitted them, and spent hours encouraging their friends to vote for the proposal … Then, come to find out, the city is in a position where it’s able to change its mind … I think that sends a bad message to people who participated in the process,” Craig added.
“I believe the projects are all virtuous without question,” Coll said about the project proposals. “The issue is we have as a city, is we have a budget deficit of $3.6 million.”
Coll said if the city were in the black, financially, it would be different, describing the participatory budget project items as “wants versus needs.”
“I think these are all just talking points,” Sanghvi said in response to the argument made at the city council meeting that spending on the participatory budget was not fiscally responsible. “When people want to spend money on overtime, when they want to spend money on lots of other things that are not part of social services, we still find money.”
Safford said Tuesday night it was his understanding that Sanghvi did not include in the participatory budget funds in the 2026 adopted budget passed in November.
“We asked her not to put it in the budget,” Safford said. “She said she wouldn’t. Then she put it back. She kind of hoodwinked us. That’s the way I feel about it. The thing is, there’s no way five people are going to agree on everything … there’s a lot of emotion but we got through it, we made the vote, and we moved on.”
Changes were made to the city’s comprehensive in November, when nonprofit funding was up for debate.
“When there was a budget meeting where they insisted that all the nonprofits we put back in, I put back a participatory budget as well,” Sanghvi said. “And again, I didn’t take any money from the fund balance. I literally cut a position in my own department.
“It was a transparent process. [Safford] voted for it,” Sanghvi said. “And I don’t know what to think about, except that, you know, I have sympathies for cognitive declines with age.”
“Not releasing the funds that are already in the budget … that scares me. That sort of sets a really bad precedent in future years. You assume that once the budget is done, that the people will stick by what they have all agreed to.”
Minita Sanghvi, Former Finance Commissioner
Now, $49,400 of fund balance that was allocated for the participatory budget will not be released for that purpose. That money will stay in the city’s general fund.
“Not releasing the funds that are already in the budget … that scares me,” Sanghvi said. “That sort of sets a really bad precedent in future years. You assume that once the budget is done, that the people will stick by what they have all agreed to.”
Before the vote Tuesday night, Sanghvi praised the participatory budget process as a way of fostering civic engagement.
“I’m sorry to see Saratoga Springs is not doing [the participatory budget],” Sanghvi said. “But that doesn’t mean that it’s gone. The Saratoga school board adopted participatory budgeting after they saw it done at the city level, and they are doing it to teach students about civic engagement, and it’s doing well there. There were other towns that reached out to us to learn more, and they might be adopting it.
“The 19 projects that we funded over the last three years have been successful, including the pollinator garden and the Geyser Elementary School outdoor learning center, and so those will live on,” Sanghvi added.