New Website Gives Upper Moreland Residents 'Unprecedented' Access

A new website published by Montgomery County will give residents, officials, and other staff “unprecedented” access to the county’s finances, according to a Monday press release.

The web-based platform, run by OpenGov.com, translates complicated financial information into an interactive format that is easy to understand and which should empower better analysis.

The site, which can be accessed here, is reportedly different from anything else the county has ever done before.

“This administration has been the most open and transparent in Montgomery County history,” Josh Shapiro, chair of the county commissioners, said in a statement. “The vast majority of this information has been available online, but now taxpayers have a tool that will enable them to view all the material in easy to read and understand graphs and pie charts. It will provide a dynamic, panoramic view of our budget, our expenditures, and our revenues from the entire budget down to the department level.”

Six years of government spending are currently displayed in the portal. Things like historical revenue and expenditure trends over time can be viewed and organized based on selected criteria.

“By making our financial data easily accessible in an intuitive, digital format, we are demonstrating our commitment to open, efficient, and data-driven government,” Commissioner Val Arkoosh said in a press release.

The update comes after Pennsylvania was rated as one of the country’s least healthy democracies by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Montgomery County is the latest of nearly 200 government entities across the nation to use the OpenGov platform.

Five other Pennsylvania governmental entities are currently using it, and Montgomery County is the fifth most populous government entity using the platform in the nation. The four larger entities are the Office of Management and Budget of the federal government, along with Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego, CA.