Alameda County Releases Budget Information Online

Alameda County officials announced on Monday the launch of a new website dedicated to displaying information about the county’s financial assets. 

The new site showcases a plethora of budget information you can navigate by topic. You can look at an overview of the county’s annual $2.7 billion budget or drill down to discover how much money is allocated to major departments. 

New Technology Director Tim Dupuis worked with County Administrator Susan S. Muranishi to make Alameda County’s budget information more accessible to the 1.5 million people who contribute to the county’s coffers.

“The County’s annual budget is the window to the investments that Alameda County, based on the decisions of our elected Board of Supervisors, makes in the community on behalf of our residents,” Muranishi said. “This project is part of our long-term effort to facilitate deeper public understanding of our priorities as a county and to encourage more public participation in the budget process,” she said.

Some of the information that is now publicly available online includes Muranishi’s letters to the Board of Supervisors sent during the June 2013 budget creation process, budget balancing strategies, and total available financing by funding source.

For those who want to dive deep into the 576 page 2013-14 budget, all the pages are now online. Dupuis said that the site will simplify finding financial information about Alameda County’s revenues and expenses.

“Over the years the county has made tremendous strides in making out budget and budget process more transparent and accessible to the public,” Dupuis said. “But let’s face it: a budget book that is more than 500 pages can be daunting to the average reader.  Through this website, we are taking a logical next step toward expending the public’s interest and knowledge about our budget,” he said.

The new site can be explored at http://budget.acgov.org/.