OpenGov - Budget and Financial Statements

In an effort to provide the community with access to City financial data, the City produces and distributes the City budget electronically via the City's website. Online you can find copies of the City's current and historic budgets, annual audited financial statements, employment contracts, salary schedules, and more - all within the documents section in Finance or Personnel Services.

But sometimes, there's nothing quite like being able to manipulate the data by yourself by viewing charts and graphs or downloading the information into an Excel spreadsheet.  The City has engaged OpenGov.com to assist with providing the public with just that opportunity. Through Healdsburg's Financial Data Transparency Portal users can view financial data based on the current budget or up to the current month. The users can manipulate the data and drill down to finite details or scale up to the big picture. Users can also download the data as an Excel spreadsheet to take home.
Click on the graphic below to visit the City's Transparency Portal. The link will open a new window and take you to the OpenGov website.

Open Gov Icon

Tips on How to Use The Portal

OpenGov Informational Handout

Here are some general navigation tips on how to use the Transparency Portal...

  • OpenGov allows you to explore budget and historical finances in a simple graphical user interface.
  • You'll notice the title of the chart or graph you are viewing in the top left corner.
  • On the Annual report, click on Views on the left-hand side to view a list of common or favorite reports
  • Select Filter to display key menus 
    • You can use the Show drop-down to select the data that is of most interest to you.
    • Use the Broken Down By drop-down to specify the category you would like the data organized by in your chart or graph.
    • Select the Filtered By option to view the data filters. These filters will allow you select exactly which data you want to include, or exclude, from your graph or chart.
  • On the top right side of the screen, there are five different types of visual representations of the data:
    • A stacked percentage graph to see percentage changes over time
    • A stacked line graph to visualize overall trends over time.
    • A line graph overlaying each trend over time.
    • A pie chart to view percentage breakdowns by year.
    • A bar chart comparing trends and percentage breakdowns over time.
  • Below any chart or graph, you can view a Table detailing the financial information in the visualization above.
  • Use the Help drop-down in the top right corner to:
    • View a short How-To Guide with tips on navigating the platform.
    • Recall the Welcome Screen.
    •  View a short Budget 101 primer with basic information on multi-fund accounting.
    • Contact our City of Healdsburg Finance department.
  • Use the Share drop-down in the top right corner to:
    • Share your customized graph or chart through social media.
    • Send a link to your customized graph or chart through email.
  • Also in Share, use the Download drop-down in the top right corner to:
    • Download an image of the graph or table as a .png file.
    • Download a spreadsheet as a .csv file.
  • Keep in mind that some departments or expenses only receive funds from specific funds - if the department or expense is not funded from a particular fund, it will be grayed out. 

Here are some Healdsburg-specific tips...

  • Healdsburg's main fund is its General Fund. Most of its expenses come from that fund.
  • Healdsburg has several "restricted" funds. Expenditures from these funds are limited to restricted areas - for example, the Gas Tax Fund. 
  • Some expenditures or revenues do not track year to year. For example, there may be an expenditure for a specific item or project in 2013-14 that the City no longer uses. These expenditure categories will be visible for the years in which they were encountered. After that, they will zero out.
  • A "Proprietary Fund" is almost always going to be an Internal Service Fund. This is basically a fund that the City uses internally to pay for specific items - employee benefits, general liability, and IT are all examples of internal service funds.
  • An “Enterprise Fund” is the fund were we account for services, such as water, sewer, and electric.
  • A "Fiduciary Fund" is a restricted fund for specific purposes. Here you will find the RDA Successor Agency.
  • A "Governmental Fund" is where most of the work happens. Here you will find the General Fund and the Special Revenue Funds. 
  • The data is solely for the City of Healdsburg and does not include financial data from any outside special districts, such as Healdsburg Unified School District or the Healdsburg Hospital.

Quick OpenGov links to get you started: