Platte County auditor demos 'Open Finance' online checkbook for public review

Kevin Robinson, Platte County auditor, introduced "Open Finance" at the commission meeting on April 21, saying the portal provides a public, searchable view of county budgets, revenues, vendor payments and a granular checkbook.

"This is a wonderful, user friendly, intuitive ... portal that you can go in and actually see County operations and finance," Robinson said while walking commissioners through the interface on the meeting screen. He demonstrated three main views: revenue, adopted budget figures and a transactional checkbook with vendor payments and brief descriptions.

In the on-screen demonstration Robinson showed a county-wide budget figure displayed in the portal (announced as about $162,000,000) and an "adopted budget" view that appeared as $120,000,000. He drilled into public safety/detention and highlighted that the portal shows detention actuals (Robinson referred to an actual of about $494,000 on a detention budget line he described as $1,000,000). Robinson said the portal will include a user guide posted on the county website and invited commissioners and the public to use the live site at the county homepage.

Robinson framed the tool as part of ongoing transparency and public engagement efforts: it lets users see how county funds — including revenues, grants and fees — are collected, allocated and spent. He showed that the portal can display past-year payments and that vendor-level detail will accumulate over time as the system is used.

The commission did not take action on the portal; Robinson said the site is live and the county will release a user guide to help residents navigate the data.

The portal can be accessed from the county website (county homepage tile labeled "Open Finance").