Washoe County unveiled the new Washoe County Checkbook on its website, an interactive tool that allows users to view the county’s revenue and expenditures and deep-dive its ledgers across all departments. Washoe County joins the State of Nevada Controller and Carson City in offering this checkbook tool to residents.
In addition to detail of County spending, the tool shows what has been budgeted versus what has been actually spent on everything from capital improvements to courts to Juvenile Services. Data can be toggled to show a current snapshot or trends over time, and can be sorted by amounts or program names.
“We owe it to our residents to make the County financially transparent. I was confident that the talented Washoe County staff could do it when I saw the Nevada Controller launch its Open Finance Portal last year,” Commissioner Clara Andriola said. “I’ve had a chance to explore the Washoe County Checkbook, and it has some really great features. It’s a useful tool giving users the ability to customize it according to how deeply they want to get into the numbers.”
Users can conduct deep-dives of the 24 county departments, 267 divisions, and 29 funds. Annual payroll information is provided for each department with a summary of wages and benefits. The site provides interactive charts, graphs, and tables, and the data is updated nightly. The information can be exported to a user’s computer for further data analysis. There is also an extensive list of FAQs to assist users find and understand the budget data.
“I want to congratulate Commissioner Andriola for the successful launch of the Washoe County Checkbook, and to thank her and Washoe County’s leaders for their commitment to transparent, accountable government,” Nevada Controller Andy Matthews said. “By providing detailed, comprehensive information on county financing, they have truly done a tremendous service to the taxpayers who fund their local government.”
Washoe County’s comptroller will present an introduction to the site at the April 8 Board of County Commissioners meeting. She will provide a hands-on demonstration of the portal, and residents are encouraged to attend in person or watch the demonstration online. This will be followed later this spring with a 90-minute “Budget 101” presentation to instruct residents on how the county budget is built using existing and projected revenues and planned expenditures that align with the Washoe County Strategic Plan.
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