The document discusses sharing financial data with citizens through a city website. It outlines reasons to share such data like boosting public understanding and confidence in government. It then provides a proposed "site seeing tour" that would allow citizens to view a city's budget, expenditures, revenues, and performance metrics. The tour suggests presenting the data in clear, accessible, and interactive ways. It also offers tips for finding partners, tools, and best practices to effectively share financial information openly with the public.

1. Nathan Smith, City of Lee’s Summit, Missouri
Show Me the Money!
Sharing financial data with citizens
through your web site

2. Nice to meet you
• Nathan Smith
– Nathan.Smith@cityofls.net
– @nsmith_piano
• Systems Analyst, City of Lee’s Summit, MO
– Former city web master
– ERP guy
– Technology handyman

3. Road map
1. Reasons to share financial data
2. Site seeing tour
3. How to get there

4. Part 1
REASONS TO SHARE

5. Boost public under standing of
gover nment decisions and priorities
“Where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.”
— Matthew 6:21

6. Boost public confidence in
gover nment honesty and ef ficiency
“Follow the money.”
— Deep Throat

7. Encour age citizen
engagement
“Ask not what your country
can do for you — ask what
you can do for your country.”
— John F. Kennedy

8. Local gover nments are
open sour ce institutions
• Budget and other financial data are a big
part of our source code

9. W ho is our audience?
• Elected officials
• Engaged citizens
• Open data users (journalists, academics,
civic app builders)

10. Data + Dialog
• Some of the most valuable financial
data comes in the form of words, not
numbers
• How can I get involved?
• Why is this number high or low?

11. Webmaster’s Role
• Gathering and disseminating financial
data requires commitment from finance
and other departments
• Requires buy in from political leaders
• Advocate for openness
• Make sure that what we decide to share is
shared well

12. Star t with w hat you have
• CAFR
• Budget
• Materials for elected officials

14. Make it easy to access
• Break it down by chapters
• Provide context around the links

17. Part 2
SITE SEEING TOUR

18. Cate gories of financial
infor mation
1. Budget – What is our plan?
2. Expenditures – How did we spend our money?
3. Revenues – Where did our money come from?
4. Performance – How are we executing our plan?

19. Stop 1: Budget

20. Budget
• Question to answer
– What is our plan?
• Goal for sharing
– Citizens understand and help shape
government priorities

21. GFOA budget process goals
• Incorporates a long-term perspective
• Establishes linkages to broad organizational goals
• Focuses budget decisions on results and outcomes
• Involves and promotes effective communication with
stakeholders
• Provide incentives to government management and
employees
Best Practices in Public Budgeting.
Government Finance Officers Association.

22. How can I get involved?
• When are the meetings?
• Can I watch them on line, on PEG
channel?

24. How can I share my ideas?
• Speak at a meeting
• Email somebody
• Online forum

27. What are our priorities as a
community?
• Make high level information
available without having to
download the budget book

29. Get interactive
• Let citizens explore different
what-if scenarios
• Share the tools you are
already making for elected
officials with citizens

34. Stop 2: Expenditures

35. 2. Expenditures
• Questions
–How did we spend our money?
• Goals
–Citizens are confident that
public funds are spent wisely
and contracts are awarded fairly

36. Post the check register on line
• Texas Comptroller encourages cities to do
this – see http://texastransparency.org
• Can be as simple as a monthly Excel
sheet
• Consolidate payroll data – don’t post
individual paychecks
• Tells citizens we have nothing to hide

38. Summarize by vendor
• Gives a bigger picture
• Can be easier for citizens to
understand
• Consider providing detailed
description for vendors receiving
more than a certain amount

41. Per sonnel expenses
• Normally the largest expense
• Local media may be posting
• Can post by job title rather than employee name
• Can post just salary or salary plus benefits
• Nepotism deterrent

44. Capital pr ojects
• Funding sources
• Expenditures
• Geographic location
• Completion dates

46. Procurement process
• Bid opportunities
• Awarded contracts

49. Stop 3: Revenue

50. 3. Revenue
• Questions
– What resources is government receiving?
– How much am I contributing?
• Goals
– Citizens understand the sources of
government revenue
– Citizens understand taxes and fees

51. How much is gover nment
getting?
• Sources of revenue
• Trends and projections
• Respect privacy
– Working in public sector is voluntary
– Paying taxes is not

54. How much am I
contributing?
• Tax rate information
• Tax calculators
• Maps of special tax districts
• Schedule of fees
• Water/sewer/electric rates

57. Stop 4: Perfor mance

58. 4. Perfor mance
• Questions
– How do actuals compare to the budget?
– How are we doing compared to previous years?
– How are revenue and expenditure impacting fund
balances?
• Goals
– Citizens anticipate and understand mid-year
adjustments to the budget

64. Part 3
HOW TO SHARE

65. Make it accessible
• Use clean markup
• Provide the raw data behind charts
and graphs

66. Make it clear

67. Check out Edwar d Tufte

68. Make it beautiful
• The designer and the accountant
should be friends
• Apply the same standards for white
space, appealing and useful graphics
that you would use to draw people in
to other areas of your site

69. Find a par tner

70. Find a tool
• Crystal Xcelsius
• Google Docs
• Michigan Citizen’s Guide Template

71. T hank you!

72. Links
• Toronto, ON council briefing book:
http://www.toronto.ca/civic-engagement/council-briefing/index.htm
• Clearwater, FL CAFR:
http://www.clearwater-fl.com/gov/depts/finance/docs_forms_pub/cafr_11/index.asp
• St. Louis, MO annual operating plan:
http://stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/budget/documents/fy13-city-of-st-louis-annual-o
• GFOA Best Practices in Budgeting: http://www.gfoa.org/services/nacslb/
• Chicago, IL budget calendar:
http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/obm/provdrs/city_budg/svcs/budget_calendar.html
• Alexandria, VA budget information: http://alexandriava.gov/Budget
• Alexandria, VA budget forum:
http://apps.alexandriava.gov/WebComments/CommentBoardSummary.aspx?id=29
• Fort Worth, TX budget summary: http://fortworthtexas.gov/fy2013budget/
• Seattle, WA budget simulator: http://www.seattle.gov/budgetsimulation/

73. • Alexandria, VA budget assumptions model:
http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/budget/info/budget2012/FY2012BudgetForecastScenario
• New York, NY council discretionary funding:
http://council.nyc.gov/html/budget/council_disclosure_funding.shtml
• DeLeon, TX check register:
http://www.cityofdeleon.org/government/financial-transparency/city-check-register/
• Lawrence, KS vendor payments:
http://www.lawrenceks.org/assets/budget/2013/2011%20Accounts%20Payable%20Vendor%20
• Fort Collins, CS open book: http://www.fcgov.com/openbook/
• Cook County, IL employee salaries:
https://datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/Finance-Administration/Comptroller-Annual-Salaries-as-of-
• Lawrence, KS employee salaries:
http://www.lawrenceks.org/budget_files/2013/2011_Lawrence_KS_Employee_Salaries.pdf
• Lee’s Summit, MO capital project status: http://lees-summit.mo.us/cip_new/main.cfm
• Demandstar procurement information: http://www.demandstar.com/
• Chicago, IL procurement:
http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/VCSearchWeb/org/cityofchicago/vcsearch/controller/bidT
abs/begin.do?agencyId=city

74. • Solano County, CA revenue trend:
http://www.solanocounty.com/SubApp/SolanoIndex/website/CityRev.html
• Maricopa County, AZ revenue sources: http://www.maricopa.gov/openbooks/revenue.aspx
• Canton, MI tax calculator: http://www.canton-mi.org/government/prop_calc.aspx
• Barrington, IL TIF map: http://www.barrington-il.gov/index.aspx?page=313
• Berkley, MI city dashboard: http://www.berkleymich.org/fintreas_dashboard.shtm
• Berkley, MI citizen’s guide: http://www.berkleymich.org/documents/CitizensGuide-
CityofBerkley2010.xls
• Winston-Salem, NC dashboard:
http://www.cityofws.org/Home/Departments/FinancialManagementServices/Articles/Curren
tFinancialDashboardReport
• Rockhill, NC financial dashboard: http://www.cityofrockhill.com/financialdashboard.html
• Look at Cook: http://lookatcook.com/
• Edward Tufte: http://www.edwardtufte.com/
• New Orleans, LA Socrata site: https://data.nola.gov/
• Michigan Citizen’s guide templates: http://www.michigan.gov/treasury/0,1607,7-121-
1751_2197_58826-259606--,00.html