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City of Oxnard demonstrates online financial transparency portal
Summary
City finance staff demonstrated an interactive portal that lets residents view three years of actuals and three years of budgeted amounts, explore narrative "stories," build custom reports using filters, and download or share datasets.
An unidentified presenter from the City of Oxnard finance department demonstrated the city’s new interactive financial transparency portal and walked viewers through how to find and use its features.
The demonstration showed how to access the portal from the City of Oxnard home page by selecting "Government" and then "Open Government," and explained that the tool is intended to give residents and business owners the ability to review and analyze the city's fiscal data. "This interactive tool allows you, the community member, an opportunity to review and analyze pertinent financial information and answer questions you might have about the city's finances," the presenter said.
The presenter opened a saved view that displays annual revenue and expenses with three years of historical actuals and three years of budgeted amounts. The visualization is interactive: users can hover over color-coded categories to see actual revenues, year-over-year percentage changes and each category's share of total revenue. A tabular view is available further down the page and carets expand to show additional line-item detail.
Users can choose among five display options for each report and sort the data in multiple ways. Bulleted categories on the reports are interactive and selecting one causes the report to drill down into more detailed information. The portal also includes a "Stories" section that pairs financial reports with narrative explanations intended to provide context for specific datasets across the city.
If pre-built views do not answer a question, the presenter demonstrated the Filter tab, which allows users to build a custom report by selecting breakdowns, filters and a fiscal year range. The help menu offers a "how to" guide and a detailed page on multi-fund accounting, and the presenter said viewers may contact the City of Oxnard finance department directly for additional assistance.
Data can be shared or downloaded in specific formats via the share menu. The presentation concluded with an encouragement to explore the financial reporting tool and a note of thanks to residents and business owners for engaging with the city's financial information.
