Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Town of Abingdon, VA Launches Interactive Financial Transparency Platform

TOWN OF ABINGDON, VIRGINIA


TOWN OF ABINGDON, VIRGINIA

Town of Abingdon, VA Launches Interactive Financial Transparency Platform

OpenGov platform engages residents with instant access to budget data

The Town of Abingdon, VA announces 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 platform may be accessed at https://abingdonva.opengov.com.

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.

Abingdon is the thirteenth (13th) organization in Virginia using OpenGov to analyze, share, and compare its financial data. The town led the initiative to make the finances more transparent and understandable.

“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,” said Town Manager, Greg Kelly. “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.”

Beyond sharing information with the public, the Town of Abingdon, VA can also use OpenGov internally to create custom reports, manage operations to budget, and keep administrators informed. With today’s launch, Abingdon, VA joins a growing list of more than 1,000 leading towns, counties, state agencies, school systems, and special districts across the country that leverage OpenGov technology.

“By making its financial data easily accessible in an intuitive, digital format, the town is demonstrating its commitment to efficient, data-driven and open government,” commented Zac Bookman, CEO and co-founder of OpenGov.



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