City Launches Interactive Financial Transparency Platform

The City Manager’s Office recently announced the launch of a financial analysis platform powered by OpenGov.com that provides residents, elected officials and staff access to the city’s finances. The powerful web-based platform transforms complex financial data into an interactive, digital format that enables better analysis and understanding of the city’s finances. The intuitive design makes it easier to explore how taxpayer money is collected and spent. The platform may be accessed at www.SBCity.org/OpenSB. The OpenGov platform displays five years of government spending and revenue detail in a user-friendly portal. Users can view historical revenue and expenditure trends over time and explore multiple views of financial data, e.g. by fund, department, expense, or revenue type. Visitors to the platform may answer frequently asked questions such as “What did the city spend or budget for Police services over the past five years?” or “How much did the City collect on licenses and permits?” and then share that information directly from the platform via email or on social media. At this time, audited financial data (actuals) is available for fiscal years 2011-12 and 2012-13. “For fiscal years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, the current data reflects budgeted dollars only. Actuals will be added for 2013-14 and 2014-15 later this month. “We are excited to offer this platform to residents and stakeholders in an effort to be more transparent and present complex financial data in an easy to understand manner,” said City Manager Allen Parker. With this new tool available, the City of San Bernardino joins a growing list of more than 300 leading cities, counties, state agencies, school systems, and special districts across the country that leverage OpenGov technology.