Financial Transparency

Font Size: + -

Feedback Print

The City of Lafayette is committed to honest budgeting, responsible spending and financial transparency.

In this spirit, the City of Lafayette has partnered with OpenGov to provide residents and stakeholders with the Financial Transparency Portal. The portal is designed to bring visibility, openness, and accountability to our operations.

This site provides you the opportunity to view, filter and analyze revenue, expense and balance sheet financial data for Lafayette. You can even download the data (i.e. in Excel) for offline analysis.

Quick Look

(*Note that graph icons are illustrative and may not match actual views)

revenues

What are the revenue sources
for the General Fund?

taxes

How much does the City
receive from taxes?

GF expenses

What types of things does
the General Fund pay for?

Dept expenses

What are the General Fund expenses
by department?

Line graph

How do revenues compare
with expenses in the General Fund?

stacked graph

What else do you want to know?
Click HERE.

Navigation Tips

OpenGov allows you to explore budget and historical finances in a simple graphical user interface

You’ll notice the Report Title you are viewing in the top left corner

Click on Saved on the left-hand side to view a list of common or favorite views on each report

Select Filter to display key menus

You can use the Show drop-down to see the data that is of most interest to you

Use the Broken Down By drop-down to specify the category by which you would like to organize the data in your chart or graph

Select the Filtered By option to view the data filters.These filters will allow you to select exactly which data you want to include, or exclude, from your graph or chart.

Use the Search function within each filter to find exactly what you are looking for

There are five different types of visual representations of the data:

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 stacked percentage graph to see percentage changes over time
A bar chart comparing trends and percentage breakdowns over time

Below any chart of 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 the administrator of the account

Use the Share drop-down in the top right corner to share your customized graph or chart through social medial or send a link to your customized graph or chart through email

Use the Download drop-down in the top right corner to download an image of the graph or table as a .png file or download a spreadsheet as a .csv file

FAQ

Expand/Contract Questions and Answers

Q:What is OpenGov?
A:
OpenGov is a financial transparency website which displays government finances over a multi-year period. The default view usually displays expenses broken down by department.
Q:How do I select the data I want to see?
A:
To focus on specific data – like a fund, department, expense type, or any combination – use the menu on the left side panel. The “By” drop-down allows you to specify which breakdown you want the graphs and table rows to represent on the graph. You can analyze the expense and revenues data by fund, department, or type.
Q:How do I see the actual numbers within the graph?
A:
Hover over any area of the graph to see the actual or budgeted amounts for that period. Or, just scroll down to see a table with detailed information.
Q:Can I select options other than funds or departments?
A:
Yes. Use the Data Filter on the left side panel to make specific selections within the data. The Data Filter shows you the hierarchical relationships of Funds, Departments, and Account Types. You’ll notice the title of the graph you are viewing on top along with the account type selector. You can use the filter to see the data of most interest to you.
Q:Can I see the data in a different graph?
A:
In the upper right-hand corner, you will see options for the different graphs and tables. There are five graph types overall; an area graph, an area graph by percentage, a line graph, a pie graph, and a bar chart. There is also always a table view below any chart or graph. The table allows you to zoom-in on the detailed financial data selected in the chart or graph above.
Q:Why are there sometimes spikes in one year?
A:
In reviewing multiple years of data, you may see “spikes” in the individual years; this can be due to unexpected expenses, such as a hard winter, equipment failure, a capital project, or a specific event that required additional funds. You can drill-down into our OpenGov site to learn more about what exactly those expense or revenues are.
Q:Can I save the data I am looking at in OpenGov?
A:
Yes, there are Share and Download buttons in the upper right corner. You can share any view on a social network or by email. There are also options to download the displayed data in .csv spreadsheet and .png image formats.
Q:Is government accounting different from other accounting? How do I learn more?
A:
Use the Help menu on the top right corner to navigate to the “Budget 101” primer to learn more about multi-fund accounting.
Q:How do I contact the someone if I have questions about Open Gov?
A:
Use the Help menu on the top right corner to navigate to the “Contact” option to send your message to your organization.

Q:What is OpenGov?

Q:How do I select the data I want to see?

Q:How do I see the actual numbers within the graph?

Q:Can I select options other than funds or departments?

Q:Can I see the data in a different graph?

Q:Why are there sometimes spikes in one year?

Q:Can I save the data I am looking at in OpenGov?

Q:Is government accounting different from other accounting? How do I learn more?

Q:How do I contact the someone if I have questions about Open Gov?