Sagunto opens voting for the 2027 Participatory Budget on 15 September
From Tuesday, residents can share out €500,000 among 64 finalist proposals — from pavements to playgrounds — chosen from the 127 ideas submitted to Sagunto City Council this year.
Sagunto City Council has finished the technical review stage of the 2027 Participatory Budget (a scheme where residents help decide how part of the public money is spent) and is now moving to public voting. On Thursday 10 September, the deadline closed for council staff to assess the 127 proposals submitted by residents — more than in the previous edition. Of those, 64 ideas passed the technical filter and reached the final stage.
From Tuesday 15 September until 30 September, any registered resident can go to participa.sagunto.es and decide how to spend part of the municipal budget. Each voter gets a simulated budget of €500,000 to share among the proposals they like most, with no limit on how many they can support. The result of the vote will decide which projects are actually carried out next year.
The finalist list covers almost every neighbourhood and need in town. On mobility and accessibility, proposals include a bike lane linking the CV-309 road with Avenida Europa, steps down to the Palancia riverbed near Rodamilans street, pavement and asphalt repairs in several spots, and a rest area for pedestrians on the road connecting the two parts of town, Sagunto and Puerto de Sagunto (coastal district).
Sports and children's leisure spaces make up a large share of the ideas: table-tennis courts, a pump-truck circuit (a bike-skills track), new playgrounds at Triángulo Umbral and near Sierra Cazorla and Sierra de Penáguila, rubber flooring for the outdoor gym on Churruca street, and an approved climbing structure for the Aesthetics Gladiators outdoor gym in Puerto de Sagunto. Voters will also decide on renovating the Triángulo Umbral amphitheatre and a full upgrade of Plaza Bicentenario de José Romeu, in the Parque del Agua.
The coast has its own set of proposals: more lifeguard and watch towers on Almardá, Corinto and Malvarrosa beaches, better paving on those same beaches, and more waste bins properly installed and maintained on the sand.
Other ideas cover everyday services: baby-changing stations in council buildings, urban shelters for controlled stray-cat colonies in Sagunto and Puerto de Sagunto, air conditioning for schools, replacing old streetlights with LED technology, and refurbishing the Voro Alandí cultural centre. There are also plans for a municipal plant nursery to support social inclusion, reforestation on Castillo hill, and new green areas and tree groves around the city.
On education and public spaces, the proposal list also includes full air conditioning for municipal schools, repainting several school facades, renovating the infant playgrounds at Tarrazona, Montíber and María Yocasta schools, installing a covered platform for neighbourhood association activities, and replacing worn-out street furniture, such as benches and run-down playgrounds, in several neighbourhoods.
The €500,000 up for vote is a small slice of the council's overall budget, which stood at around €95.6 million in 2023 according to institutional data recorded on Wikipedia — a comparison that helps put this participatory fund in scale, even though its effect on each neighbourhood's daily life can be direct and visible.
The vote comes at a time of major change for Sagunto, driven by the PowerCo battery gigafactory (a Volkswagen Group project) and growing demand for housing and public facilities in both parts of town. That so many finalist proposals focus on accessibility, sport and green spaces in Puerto de Sagunto and in the historic centre reflects the town's two identities: the historic core, built around the Castle and the Roman Theatre, and the seafront, more linked to beach leisure and industry.
Anyone who wants to take part must go to participa.sagunto.es, register with their details, and share the mock budget among their chosen proposals before 23:59 on 30 September. The council has stressed that voting is individual and that supporting every proposal is not required: each person can put their whole budget behind one idea or spread it across several, as they prefer.
Based on information published by Sagunto City Council, with additional data from Wikipedia.