Financial Transparency in an Age of Too Much Data.

• Author: Chiu, Debbie
• Position: FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

In these two articles, authors Debbie Chiu and Ron Galperin look at what their governments are doing to address different areas of transparency. First, we'll talk about engaging the public and educating them through financial transparency, including telling the story behind the numbers. Another part of the picture is data visualization--that is, finding to ways to distill large data sets to help the public better understand a government's finances.

Kansas City Uses Data to Tell Its Budget Story and Engage Residents

BY DEBBIE CHIU

In these two articles, authors Debbie Chiu and Ron Galperin look at what their governments are doing to address different areas of transparency. First, we'll talk about engaging the public and educating them through financial transparency, including telling the story behind the numbers. Another part of the picture is data visualization--that is, finding ways to distill large data sets to help the public better understand a government's finances.

Kansas City, Missouri, uses online transparency tools to educate the public about the city's financial information and to get them involved in spending decisions. Using resident engagement initiatives, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) links budget data, performance data, and storytelling to explain what's behind these numbers.

To tell the city's story, OMB had a lot of dots to connect. Phase one of this journey started with long-term trend analysis of the city's annual financial report and an internal departmental strategic planning process focusing on structural change management. But these processes weren't connected; separate pieces from different departments and divisions were combined into the city wide business plan to "connect the dots." The city went from having parallel but distinct processes to interlocking all these components into one cohesive, streamlined plan.

BUDGET CYCLE The budget's cycle of life starts with the priorities laid out by the city council. The cycle is a whole year, starting May 1, the beginning of the city's fiscal year. OMB starts off with a trends analysis, tying the council priorities with the city wide business plan, which is submitted to the mayor and council in early fall. That's when OMB starts involving residents to give feedback--one of two opportunities they have to give feedback on the business plan. When the council adopts the business plan, by November 1, OMB starts the work that leads to the submitted budget, which is essentially a one-year snapshot of OMB's business plan. At that point, residents are involved again through public budget hearings, where OMB receives feedback that it presents to the council. The final step, then, is when the council adopts the final budget.

BUSINESS PLAN. The citywide business plan has three major components: the city strategic plan, which highlights the mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, and strategies; a financial strategic plan, which contains financial objectives; and a five-year planning model, which provides both the baseline and balanced scenarios needed to evaluate the city's financial and operational alternatives through the planning and budget process. The business plan is a four-year strategic plan, essentially mimicking the council terms.

PUBLIC EDUCATION. OMB educates the public via transparency initiatives and linkages to performance. The city has Twitter and Facebook accounts that it uses to engage residents, and these accounts become very active during budget season with live tweets and posts from events such as public budget hearings. OMB also likes to post a budget fact of the day, highlighting different departments' programs and funding throughout the year. The city also has a portal called Open Data KC, where information and data--essentially a snapshot of budget-related files--can be downloaded by anyone who is interested. This includes, for example, 311, performance data, and the city's monthly auction that lists towed vehicles that will be auctioned. All the reports that OMB presents to the mayor, the council, and the public are archived here. Quarterly analysis, budget documents, and the city's business plan are all made available for anybody who is interested in reading more about it (see Exhibit 1),

The Tools

OPEN BUDGET. Open Budget is an interactive tool that OMB uses to present the city's budget in a visual and interactive way. It allows users to create and share customized links, and to download budget data. Exhibit 2 shows the submitted budget and the adopted budget, as well as the actual budget from the previous year. The city's departments, mayor, city manager, and residents can see how much was originally submitted for the budget, how much was approved, and how much was spent.

REPORTING. The Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Performance Management, known as DataKC, present the business plan and reports on how the city is doing--if it is meeting its marks--and continually update the city's performance dashboards (see Exhibit 3).

NEXTDOOR, Nextdoor is a social networking site for neighborhoods. The city communications office and other departments use it to market and promote city events or release news because not everyone is on Facebook or Twitter. The idea is to use several platforms to reach as many residents as possible.

CITY WEBSITE. Submitted and budget documents, anything related to the business plan and quarterly analysis, and other reports provided to the mayor and council are posted on the city's website (kcmo.gov/budget).

The site also provides a link to Open Budget, Balancing Act, and capital improvement programs.

Engaging Residents

STORYTELLING. The city's visitor engagement efforts center on the idea of storytelling with budget data. This is one of many avenues the city uses to present financial data to the masses.

RESIDENT WORK SESSIONS. Rather than the traditional annual budget public hearings that are held in the spring, OMB conducts resident work sessions in the late summer and early fall to present the city wide business plan to the public. This provides opportunities for participants to discuss the city's proposed goals and objectives, to set long-term budget priorities, and to send direct messages to the city council. They also get to interact directly with staff and elected officials.

Because Kansas City covers 319 square miles, OMB divides the city into north, central, and south sections and locates meetings in all three areas to make sure there will be locations that meet everyone's needs. Meetings are also convened in the evening, on a weekday, and on weekends to give residents as many opportunities as possible to participate.

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