Improved “It’s Your Money” has latest city financial info
SURPRISE, AZ (January 6, 2010) A searchable, custom-built web site and data base offers Surprise residents something unique: updated city revenues and spending data in an accessible online form featuring the most up to the minute information available.
"Surprise is one of the few governments anywhere making this much information so easily accessible,” says City Manager Randy Oliver. “It demonstrates an ongoing council and management commitment to open, transparent public finance.”
The “It’s Your Money” site at www.surpriseaz.com was born from a city council and manager-led drive to make city finances more accessible. In addition to current spending and revenue reports, residents combing through the city’s on line books learn everything from stimulus updates to the status of capital improvements to employee salaries.
"When council asked for it, we needed some time to organize the data so that it made sense,” says Oliver. “The new site is easy to use and makes a great deal of information available with a few clicks of a mouse.” The site includes a custom search engine to make data hunting even easier.
Reports are accessed via easy-to-use buttons which open dynamic year-to-date reports, some of them updated weekly, others each month. Residents can click through the information or use the search feature to track down what they are looking for.
The site also includes links to the actual weekly and monthly Finance Department reports on disbursements, revenues and expenditures for anyone wishing to scroll through them “by hand,” Oliver says.
“The information is about as current and as comprehensive as it can get,” Oliver says. “And like any dynamic process, it is never finished. We will always be updating and improving resident access.”
A comment link allows resident to e-mail comments or questions about the data.
The site is available via the “It’s Your Money” icon on the city’s home page.
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