Town of Abingdon, Va. launches interactive financial transparency platform
The Town of Abingdon, Va. announced the launch of a new digital platform powered by OpenGov that provides residents, elected officials, and staff unprecedented access to the town’s finances.
The OpenGov platform transforms complex financial data into an interactive, digital format that enables better analysis and understanding of the town’s finances. The intuitive design makes it easier to explore how taxpayer money is collected and spent.
The OpenGov platform displays the past three (3) fiscal years plus the current fiscal year 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, including by fund, department, expense, or revenue type. For example, visitors to the platform may answer frequently asked questions such as “What did the town spend on capital improvements over the past three (3) years?” or “How much did the town collect in property tax in the last two (2) years?” and then share that information directly from the platform via email or on social media.
“This is one of many measures that the Town has taken over the course of the past two years to revamp its finance department and to streamline the public’s ability to access up to date financial information of the Town, free of charge, without having to make a formal request for the same,” Greg Kelly, the town’s manager, said. “It is my hope that the OpenGov portal will prove to be an effective tool to demonstrate to the public that the Town of Abingdon wants to be as open and transparent as possible regarding its fiscal revenues and expenditures both in its general fund and in its enterprise (Sewer Department) fund.”
The platform may be accessed at https://abingdonva.opengov.com.
By: OpenGov
Published: September 9, 2016
Source: Town of Abingdon, Va. launches interactive financial transparency platform
