Dalton Board Approves Budgeting Software
DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board approved having the town manager engage in a potential contract with the budgeting software ClearGov for next fiscal year.
Public officials say the software will streamline and increase the transparency of the budgeting process.
"When I watched the presentation of this, I was totally impressed. What I like about it is the fact that it can be put up on that public website. Everybody in town can look at it," Chair Robert Bishop said.
"It's very open, clear, and it's easy, even for me, to understand. So, I highly recommend we do this."
The total cost would be about $18,000, including the $12,000 a year subscription. The purchase had been endorsed by the Finance Committee.
Town Manager Eric Anderson said he anticipates the implementation of the program to begin after the fiscal year — around July 1.
The board unanimously agreed to try the software given the benefits. Select Board member Marc Strout was not present for the meeting.
"I think they're going to continue with their software updates to keep us current and in place with trends," said Antonio "Tony" Pagliarulo, board member.
Looking to the future, the system would be useful for new hires and improve transparency with the public, he said.
"I think there's a lot of positives here for the money. There's a cost benefit, but the benefit, I think, is equal to, not greater than the cost," Pagliarulo said.
The information this helps disseminate will be invaluable to the residents, Select Board member John Boyle said.
Board member Dan Esko expressed his concern with the high cost associated with the program. However, he acknowledged it will help organize and disseminate information, especially with some of its graphic capabilities.
"So, while I understand it's not exactly going to allow us to necessarily cut any salary to pay for it. I understand that it will free up time for department managers and town manager to work on other priorities," Esko said.
"So, I think the efficiencies gained there could be overall beneficial for the town. So, yeah, I'd be in support of trying this."
The town has been using the same Excel sheet to budget since it was developed by former committee member Terry Williams 25 years ago and life has gotten more complex since then, Anderson has said.
Excel-based budgeting increases the liability to error because of the high number of cells in the document that has to be managed.
The system streamlines the budgeting process for department heads and the town manager by allowing authorized personnel to input and manage their respective budgets directly, he said.
This reduces time spent on manual entries and increases organizational efficiency, even if it doesn’t result in direct cost savings due to fixed salaries.
ClearGov also enables the town to upload its budget to its website in an easily digestible way.
Budget data is displayed through graphical tools, and each section pairs clear numerical information with explanatory text from the relevant departments, allowing residents to understand both the figures and their context.
It also enables the import of previous years’ data for trend analysis and comparison.
"I think it's also worth the adoption, because over the next couple years, we are going to have to talk seriously about whether we try for a levy limit override," Anderson said.
"If we're going to even contemplate that, we need to put very clear information out to the public so they can see everything and be as transparent as possible, because if we don't do that, we don't have a shot at that.
"I'm not saying it would pass anyway, but if that's something the board wants to consider, this, I think, would go a long way towards accomplishing that."
The initial setup fee is $5,185, which covers downloading the town's accounts, integrating it with ClearGov, and ensuring compatibility with its existing financial software.
This setup allows the town to pull data directly from its current system into ClearGov and, after the budget process, export it back into its financial software.
Tags: software,
