Many citizens in the small Romanian city of Moreni were unsatisfied with the local solid waste collection service and wanted a cleaner city. Unfortunately, the mayor said there was no money in the city budget to pay for an improved waste collection program. A tax dedicated to waste collection was necessary, but members of the Local Council were reluctant to burden citizens with this cost, fearing that they would lose political support.

To resolve the situation, in October 2000, the city joined a program offered by Partners-Romania called “Solutions through Dialogue” in order to involve citizens in the decision-making process regarding waste management. The mayor’s office was interested not only in finding the revenue to improving services such as waste collection, but increasing citizens’ awareness of the political process and the benefits they could gain through participation. He also wanted to improve dialogue between the public and the members of the Local Council.

Partners-Romania held a training workshop, in which the Moreni team members improved their knowledge and skills in communication, decision-making, and increasing citizen participation levels. The team members then decided on a public survey to determine citizens’ attitudes about the new tax. By the end of November, 700 questionnaires, a representative sample, had been collected from the citizens of Moreni. The results were positive: 560 citizens approved of the new tax.

Meanwhile, the mayor invited local businesspeople to negotiate the amounts that would be paid by their companies. They agreed that the amounts should differ depending on business type and size. Although none of the participants were happy about the new tax, especially in light of Moreni’s poor economic situation, everyone agreed on the need to improve the waste collection service.

The positive results of the survey and the negotiations with the business sector convinced the Local Councilors that they could safely pass the tax. The waste collection tax was imposed in January 2001, and in the first four months almost 40 percent of the anticipated income for the year was collected. This was an unexpectedly strong result, considering the poverty in Moreni, and demonstrated that citizens were willing to pay for improved services.

This was the first citizen participation initiative in Moreni, and made citizens aware of the tremendous impact they could have in local politics. The quality of waste collection was significantly improved; the city bought new garbage bins and street furniture, ten additional people were hired to sweep the streets, and waste collection became more frequent. Members of the Local Council learned the value for their own political careers of involving citizens in the decision-making process. Moreni is planning to use a similar process to make further improvements in town services. As Mayor Ion Lazarescu said, “I want to say that citizens’ support was decisive. We will use participation in the future.”