From the Reporter-Herald (Loveland):  City of Loveland officials this week launched a financial tool accessible to residents on the city’s website.

Residents will be able to access six years’ worth of budget data as well as check and credit card transactions in a searchable database from the past three years in the OpenGov online portal, which officials call a “financial transparency tool.”

“One of the most important jobs we do in our community is to build trust, and OpenGov is a great way to do that,” City Manager Bill Cahill said in a news release. “Openness and transparency are more than just good ideas. They are ideals that we are putting to work in our service to citizens, and OpenGov is a prime example.”

As with any new technology, there will be a learning curve with OpenGov, finance director Brent Worthington said in the release.

“The platform is a very powerful tool that I think many Loveland residents will use,” he said.

Details of municipal court-related payments will be less descriptive to “protect the privacy of the parties involved, which otherwise might be unjustly compromised,” the release stated.

Approximately 230,000 check and credit card records are available for public view, city spokesman Tom Hacker said. The portal has information on 174,696 checks, which total more than $676 million, and 57,508 credit card transactions, which total more than $13.4 million.

OpenGov is a company based in Redwood, Calif., that has more than 1,000 government customers in 45 states, according to the news release. The platform will allow Loveland officials to compare their data with other governments’ numbers, and it will provide opportunities for collaboration.

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