What Happened?
Cities are adopting financial transparency models to provide accountability to the public on spending decisions.
Demand for Financial Transparency
Many cities host antiquated technologies that house public financial data in outdated formats and platforms. These databases make it difficult for the public to find, read and understand how the city is spending its money.
When a municipality invests in user-friendly technology to share financial information with the public, residents are able to track tax dollars as they would a checking account. These open-source software solutions help residents not only see where money is spent, but better understand the exact costs of new projects within the community.
More than 20 state and local governments adopted or amended open data policies last year, with even more expected in 2015. By mandating open data policies across local and state governments, the public sector is taking a step toward increased transparency, accountability and innovation in direct response to high demand from the community.
Ohio
The state of Ohio has adopted an open-data platform that will make all financial data from cities, counties and government entities statewide into an accessible, searchable format. The online platform offers more than 3,900 local governments with the opportunity to house revenue and expenditures online through the state’s transparency platform.
On the site, citizens have access to interactive graphs that illustrate local government revenues and spending, allowing users to view granular details government contracts and public employee salaries. The overall goal is to not only educate the public on how local agencies are spending taxpayer dollars, but also force officials to make smarter spending decisions now that they are more accountable to the public.
Peoria
Peoria, Illinois, is facing a $10.5 million deficit and officials are seeking public feedback on how best to overcome the shortfall. While more than half of the projected deficit is attributed to recently proposed state cuts, a shrinking tax base, high pension costs and expensive infrastructure projects is placing significant strain on local finances.
In response, the city has launched an interactive online tool that provides local residents with the chance to balance the city budget themselves. Users are presented with a series of budgeting choices, each offered with a list of pros and cons associated with selecting them. With each selection, the program measures the impact the decisions will have on the $10.5 million deficit. The tool also offers an area for citizens to leave feedback for local officials. Of the 1,200 residents who have participated in the program, only 40 percent were able to balance the city’s budget.
San Diego
Similarly, the city of San Diego launched a financial analysis platform that allows the public to access city budget data. The user-friendly platform makes it easy for users to see where taxpayer money will be spent for the proposed fiscal year 2016 budget.
Users can access the proposed budget broken down by operating and capital reports through the online portal. Citizens can explore budgetary data in a variety of views such as by:
- Fund
- Department
- Expense
- Revenue type
The city launched the online tool as part of a larger effort to leverage interactive technology to provide a more customer-service oriented approach to government. The city hopes the tool will create more dialogue between residents and local agencies on future budgetary decision making.
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