Commissioners unveil Lackawanna County’s first digital budget book to increase transparency

Lackawanna County officials unveiled the county’s first digital budget book at the April 16 commissioners meeting, describing the tool as an interactive, searchable platform that provides department-level budgets, revenue and expenditure trends and detailed budget highlights.

Commissioner Bill Gahan led the presentation and thanked communications staff, digital media staff and department finance staff for building the platform. He said the tool will make the county’s budget “a living document” by providing searchable explanations, department summaries, organizational charts and downloadable PDFs. He said the digital book will let users compare figures over time (the platform includes data back to 2021) and view department-level changes, employee counts and project descriptions.

Chief Financial Officer Dave Bolzoni described the effort as “incredibly laborious” and said the platform will be refined over time; he thanked communications staff for their work. Officials said the digital budget book is accessible from the county website under the Revenue & Finance department and that a top-of-page ticker will link to the resource. Commissioner Gahan noted the tool’s potential to help current and future elected officials, staff and residents better analyze how public dollars are spent.

Why it matters: County officials said the county faces continuing fiscal challenges and that the new tool aims to increase transparency, reduce confusion around budget numbers and provide context for revenue and expenditure changes. The presentation included examples such as department-specific revenue/expenditure graphs and an organizational chart for the Office of Youth & Family Services.

Next steps: The county will continue to refine the digital budget book and plans to update it as budgets and data evolve. Officials encouraged residents to contact the CFO or the Revenue & Finance department with questions.