2016 Q2 ISSUE COSTTREE CAPTURE. 09
THE INFORMATION IS (NOT) OUT THERE
So, what went wrong? This citizen had the best of intentions when educating themself prior to voting, as had the county in publishing this data. These costs, though seemingly grossly inflated, may in fact be justified if the story behind them is told.
What if, instead of publishing one-dimensional expenditure reports, they had shown the origin of the costs, the services the administrative departments provide, who they provide them to, and then, to round-out the picture, they compared those costs to other counties?
CONCLUSION
When we get to these real numbers that is when opportunity and
obligation can come together to effect real change.
without transparency
and context for
data, it may seem
as if the government
is setting our money ON FIRE.
IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPARENCY