Tool Allows Residents To Easily Inspect Budget, Government Spending

Alpharetta has unveiled a new platform designed to provide residents and stakeholders with “unprecedented” access to the city’s budget information.

Powered by OpenGov.com, the software ”transforms volumes of raw data into actionable insight and information, enabling better analysis and understanding of the city’s budget,” the city said in its press release.

Alpharetta is the first municipality in Georgia to use OpenGov, the city notes. The platform brings to users over five years of municipal spending and revenue detail in a user-friendly way to comb through.

Users can drill down into the current year budget and compare to previous years through interactive graphs that easily explain revenue and expenses by fund, department and type.

With the “Open Checkbook” feature residents can view, filter and analyze expenditure transactions for multiple fiscal years. The data can be quickly searched and filtered according to specific detail such as vendor name, date description and dollar amount.

“At our core, we are stewards of the public’s money and it’s tantamount that we provide our public timely, accurate and accessible financial information,” said Alpharetta Finance Director Tom Harris.

This same sentiment was expressed by Councilman Donald Mitchell, who added “transparency in our use of public dollars is key to keeping the public trust.”

“With this technology we are truly open for all eyes to see,” he added.

Beyond sharing information with the public, governments can also use OpenGov internally to create custom reports, manage operations to budget and keep administrators and legislators informed.

“Alpharetta is paving the way for a new standard of financial transparency in the state of Georgia,” said Zachary Bookman, CEO and co-founder of OpenGov.com. “With the financial data readily available to residents and staff, the City is improving efficiencies and building trust and engagement in the community.”

With today’s release, Alpharetta joins a growing list of leading cities, counties, state agencies, school systems, and special districts across the country that leverage the OpenGov platform.

Photo credit: Alpharetta’s OpenGov.com landing screen.