Herald News Report

FAIRBORN – The City of Fairborn continues to research and find various avenues to share information with its citizens. The Finance Division has just launched its new Financial Data Portal, through the OpenGov platform, where citizens and other interested parties can go to access the city’s financial data.

Finance Director Randy Groves said the web-based system transforms complex financial data into an interactive, digital format with multiple graphical views that allows a citizen to more easily explore the city’s finances. The Financial Data Portal displays the current year’s budget as well as historical revenues and expenditures back to 2009.

“We’ve been transparent with the city’s financial data for years by posting the city’s budget, quarterly reports, and the CAFR online,” Groves said. “Now, this new Financial Data Portal takes the city’s transparency efforts a large step further.”

Users of the portal can drill down from high level summary data at the fund group level, to the specific line item revenue and expense data at the object code level. Available on the City of Fairborn’s homepage, ci.fairborn.oh.us, users will find an informational page under the ‘Government’ section explaining the type of data included on the financial portal. This launch page for access to Fairborn’s finances includes a tip sheet for using the portal, indicating the two financial data report views: annual reports and current year-to-date reports.

“Financial transparency falls within the Finance Department’s mission to serve with the highest degree of fiscal responsibility and professionalism,” Groves said. “The Financial Data Portal is another initiative we believe demonstrates our fiscal ac-countability and preserves the public’s confidence in our ability to govern the city’s finances.”