Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Transparency topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County unveils new financial transparency site and AI chatbot to show budgets and annual report
Summary
Franklin County auditors demonstrated a new 'financial engagement' web tool that presents the county’s ACFR and budget information in interactive charts and a chatbot trained on the 2025 annual report; commissioners encouraged public use and feedback.
County accounting and auditor staff demonstrated a new public financial‑engagement site and an embedded AI chatbot trained on the county’s 2025 annual comprehensive financial report. The tool provides multi‑year budget drilldowns, department‑level spending views and narrative budget 'book' features intended to make county finances more accessible to residents.
Jeff (auditor/presenter, S10) showed pie charts and year‑over‑year comparisons and demonstrated the chatbot answering a budget question. He emphasized the tool is a work in progress (the site currently hosts 2025 data and will be updated to 2026 budgets) and invited commissioners and the public to test it and submit feedback. Commissioners asked whether public chatbot queries are stored or retrievable; staff said the chatbot does not save queries in its current configuration but said they would explore analytics options.
Commissioners agreed the tool supports transparency and suggested promoting it through county communications; accounting staff said the chatbot’s training will expand when the 2026 budget book is integrated.
