Oakland County Makes Budget and Expenditures Available on new Financial Transparency Web Site

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PONTIAC, Mich., March 6, 2009 – Oakland County has revamped its financials web site to increase transparency in County government spending, and allow citizens to better track the ways in which tax dollars are being used.

The financial transparency web site www.oakgov.com/fiscal/info_pub now includes reports updated on a monthly basis, expanding on the budget documents previously published annually by the County. Citizens can sign up to be automatically notified by email when new information and reports are published.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said, “We have always had an open book on our financials, and now we want to make our monthly budget reports readily available for citizens to review. As stewards of public tax dollars, we believe that taxpayers should be able to easily see where their money is going. These are the same reports that County government managers have been using to monitor budgets and expenses, and now we’re making as much current financial data available to the public as possible.”

Laurie Van Pelt, Director of Oakland County’s Management and Budget Department said, “The new financial reports are an exciting new tool that taxpayers can use to follow the money. Now anyone can visit the site and plainly see the actual costs of Oakland County government operations, programs and services each month. Putting monthly reports on the web is just another way that we are using technology to continue breaking down barriers between government and citizens.”

The new monthly reports represent various levels of County government, and include high-level summaries as well as detailed reports for specific governmental departments and units. Related reports including annual budgets, abbreviated financial summaries, and Audited Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports for each fiscal year dating back to 2002 are also available on the web at www.oakgov.com/fiscal/info_pub.

For media inquiries, please contact Bob Dustman, Media and Communications Officer at (248) 858-1048.