Friday, October 2, 2026
The City of Olympia launched a new online financial reporting tool designed to give city leaders and the public a clearer, month by month view of its budget.
The interactive dashboard, introduced at a city council meeting on April 28, provides monthly updates on revenues and spending. It is available on the city’s website. It replaces a previous static report and a third-party platform, offering a more user-friendly and detailed way to track city finances.
City Manager Jay Burney said the tool will help the city monitor its budget throughout the year and avoid unexpected shortfalls.
“One of the most important jobs I have is working with the council to develop our annual budget, and then track our progress and ensure that we end the year balanced and not in a deficit,” Burney said. “It is important that I’m tracking our progress along the way to avoid significant issues sneaking up on us.”
Developed by the city’s finance team, the tool allows users to explore financial data in more detail, including revenue sources and spending categories across the general fund and other funds.
Finance Director Mike Githens said the goal was to make financial information more accessible and transparent.
“This gives our community the ability to see our revenues, our expenditures, and track how we are doing against budget throughout the year,” Githens said.
The dashboard includes color-coded indicators — green, yellow and red — to show how closely financial data aligns with the budget. Githens said a red indicator does not necessarily signal a crisis, but highlights areas that need close monitoring.
A built-in watch list tracks various financial areas, such as business and occupation tax collections, sales trends, police and fire overtime, jail contract costs and public defense expenses.
Githens said the finance team monitors the city’s finances daily and can act quickly if concerns arise.
“If we notice something early on, I’m going to be talking with the city manager,” he said. “We’ve put into place some stopgaps when we have to — we’ve frozen spending, we’ve frozen hiring.”
The tool also allows users to hover over charts to compare budgeted and actual amounts, and to expand categories for more detailed breakdowns. Similar information is available for all city funds.
Council member Paul Berendt expressed appreciation for the finance team’s work, saying the tool provides “comprehensively the information I was looking for,” and called it a “powerful tool of transparency.”
Mayor Dontae Payne said the platform could also encourage more meaningful public participation.
“If people have questions about the decisions we make … they can point to where exactly they see this as a source,” Payne said. “The best ideas don’t always necessarily come from inside.”
The finance team plans to publish a report monthly, typically by mid-month after closing out the previous month’s data.
Githens added that a short instruction video is also in development, to help users navigate the dashboard.
The presentation also included an early look at the city’s 2027 budget process, which will include study sessions, revenue forecasting, and development of the capital facilities plan later this year. The final budget is expected to be adopted in December.
5 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Boatyarddog
OKAY naysayers!
Here's your chance to critique your rants online with the cities money.
They provide the info, YOU Whine about where its going.
Whaaaa!
Monday, May 4 Report this
36098501
The dashboard appears helpful for the current year, but is missing a key component that often gets missed in government agencies and non-profits.
There is very little history and future projections provided to evaluate trends and potential future issues. It would be great to see maybe the actual data for the last 5 years, the current budget year with projections, or pro-formas, under different scenarios out another 5 years. Drill down are also quite helpful.
This would be more in line with what would be used in the private sector. It should be a basic ask of any operational board or committee.
The data I see demonstrates fairly well where the City is at, but it doesn't provide context for where the City budget has been, or where the City budget is likely headed.
This data must be available internally already, otherwise the City would be flying blind at a rapid pace.
It would be an excellent step forward in transparency over having to dig through hundreds of pages of City financials to create this fundamental financial view
Tuesday, May 5 Report this
BobJacobs
This system will be helpful, but it is important that the "expected budget amounts" be based on expected spending patterns, not just one-twelfth of the annual amount per month.
Bob Jacobs
Tuesday, May 5 Report this
36098501
Bob Jacobs makes a very important point.
Using averages in financial forecasting is dangerous from a cash flow perspective - especially in the public and non profit sector where tax revenue or funding revenue can be extremely lumpy. With averages is easy to project out ample cash coverage when in reality the entity is far in the negative. Frankly, it is just basic proper accounting.
I've heard the argument that this is a more difficult approach, but in the private sector this is not optional, it is expected. Yes, sometimes best estimates are wrong, but in my experience they are far closer to reality than averages and it typically allows for less impact to financial changes that might be required. Since this is a living document the estimates get updated as more information is understood.
These tools have a purpose, but they have to be implemented and interpreted correctly to work as they should. See the Timberland Library or the Olympia School District to see what the impact of poor accounting and forecasting can have. Everything becomes reactive, as issues are uncovered too late to be thoughtful and find options rather than suddenly let teachers and programs go, or even consider closing schools.
This just creates so much unnecessary division in the community over what should be a fairly simple, straightforward and transparent way to community financial outlooks. It does take work, and skilled individuals to make it happen.
Right now, everything appears to be reactionary, rather than thoughtful.
Wednesday, May 6 Report this
JohnGear
Anyone interested in the fiscal health of Olympia or their own town (Lacey/Tumwater or others) should get the Local Finance Decoder, a carefully designed Google Doc spreadsheet that is available free from StrongTowns.org
It's a free tool to help anyone visualize the financial trajectory of their city and to understand whether their city is on track to keep its development, service, and growth promises.
It's a very sobering thing to see.
https://www.strongtowns.org/decoder
The Decoder Itself:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1W6O7W6O4D8jXX-x6ZsnhkoQw6Iw2ORpPK2D4lG_Dmn4/edit?pli=1&gid=892668771#gid=892668771
Instructions (print):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1le-0tyAcNVKXSHSEzDHlCNsBtrqOY8x6Vj4i85-jGkg/edit?tab=t.0
Video instructions for using the decoder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKiaT9ifZnM&list=PLbYPys1DJBhh634bq1Hm6tpDPGWSBLg3y
Thursday, May 7 Report this