AGEN CY T Y PE
New Haven Opens Up
Government During
Challenging Fiscal Times
N
ew Haven, Connecticut is home to a diverse
population of over 130,000 residents who
take great pride in their city’s iconic history, rich
culture, and vibrant community life. Founded in
1638 and one of America’s oldest college towns,
New Haven has, in recent years, transformed into
a hub for theater, dining, culture, and recreation.
The city was named one of America’s “Best Small
Cities on the Rise” in 2014.
City Government
POP U L AT I ON
130,660
ANNUAL B U D G ET
$508 Million
Mayor Delivered on a
Promise to Residents
Mayor Harp campaigned on a promise to New
Haven’s residents: “You will be at the table. You
will be heard. Together, we can move New Haven
forward.” Upon taking office, her commitment to
open government was immediately put to the test.
On day one, Mayor Harp’s administration faced a
Behind the scenes, New Haven Mayor Toni Harp,
serious structural budget deficit driven by growing
the Board of Alders, and city administrators,
long-term pension and medical obligations. New
worked hard to ensure the city continues to
Haven’s debt had also recently been downgraded to
attract business, foster a strong community,
a BBB+ rating, making it more expensive for the city
and pursue a robust economic redevelopment
to issue debt to fund capital projects.
agenda. Amid a long but slow recovery, the
city’s rising long-term pension, and healthcare
cost obligations, however, managing the city’s
continued growth and revitalization presented
significant challenges.
With under two months to present her first budget,
Mayor Harp and her team considered implementing
a significant property tax increase to address the
imbalance. Given the expected controversy around
a potential tax increase, Harp chose to be candid
about the city’s financial challenges and engage New
Haven’s residents in thoughtful discourse.
New Haven Opens Up Government During Challenging Fiscal Times
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Break down New Haven’s budgeted spending, then drill down by department and expense area with ease.
Financial Data Drove
Better Decisions
City Alderman Doug Hausladen, also a member
of the board’s finance committee, was frustrated
with the city’s annual budgeting process.
His finance committee had critical decisions
to drill down deep and get an accurate view
of the city’s financial picture, let alone make
sound fiscal decisions.”
Hausladen needed a better way to enable his
finance committee and Board of Alders to more
efficiently get to the information needed to
make informed decisions.
to make and needed increased insight into
the city’s budget data.
“Not until I was on the finance committee did
I realize the great need for financial documents
Improved Management
Reporting and Enhanced
Budget Communications
that we can all understand,” Hausladen said. “The
whole budget process was mind numbing—400
Hausladen learned about OpenGov at an industry
pages were dumped on you at the budget hearing,
conference and thought it could help the
and you only had four to five hours to read the
administration deliver on its open government
documents and go through the numbers with
promise while also providing stakeholders with
15 department heads. There was just no way
an easy format for reviewing proposals.
New Haven Opens Up Government During Challenging Fiscal Times
© 2017 OpenGov • opengov.com
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OpenGov lets New Haven residents investigate education funding changes over time.
“People would tell me that they needed more
and better information on a timely basis, and I
knew from reviewing OpenGov that it would take
department heads only a few minutes a month
to upload the financial data,” noted Hausladen,
who went on to serve as the city’s head of
Transportation, Traffic and Parking.
The Budget Presentation
Mayor Harp held a press conference inviting New
Haven residents to examine the city’s proposed
budget on the OpenGov platform. She was able
to provide residents with an accurate depiction of
the city’s short and long-term financial situation
After allaying internal concerns about a time-
and communicate how a proposed property
consuming and expensive implementation,
tax increase would help restore the city’s
Hausladen received approval to fast-track
long-term fiscal health.
implementation and use the new platform
to unveil the city’s proposed budget to the
community. Because uploading the financial
projections was easy, the Mayor’s new budget was
ready to be presented on OpenGov’s platform by
the time the budget deadline arrived.
“OpenGov’s colorful graphs have empowered
my team to communicate all aspects of the
budget and how it reflects our city’s priorities.”
DOUG HAUSLADEN
City Alderman, New Haven, CT
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According to Mayor Harp, “New Haven is pleased
with timely access to financial data. For example,
to have OpenGov available to help residents track
it previously took four members of Jones’s team
our city’s expenses from year to year and explore
several days to gather and process hundreds of
specific expenses within city departments.
pages of overtime reports that were then pieced
The accessibility of OpenGov’s platform is
together with little insight into the reasons
undeniable; its colorful graphs have empowered
behind the spending. “If we spend $20,000 a
my team to more clearly communicate all
week in police overtime, we don’t know why
aspects of the budget and how it reflects our
or where the overtime is being applied and
city’s priorities. It has also been valuable to have
how that spending changes weekly, monthly,
financial details available within a few clicks to
or annually,” he said.
address specific questions that arise.”
Jones and his team used OpenGov as a
management tool to streamline the overtime
New Haven Saved Money
and Staff Time
reporting process and save valuable staff time.
Once the city launched OpenGov, New Haven
making our process for managing and presenting
City Controller Daryl Jones quickly saw how it
could empower his team to make better decisions
“We expect OpenGov to save our department
at least $25,000 a year in staff time alone. By
our financial information more efficient, we
free staff up to work on other, higher-value
projects,” Jones shared.
RESULTS
Increased Transparency. Using OpenGov helped New Haven’s administration achieve its goal of being more
open, inclusive, and transparent, even amid fiscal challenges.
Improved Financial Tracking: New Haven’s financials are now easily accessible in the OpenGov, enabling
citizens and administration stakeholders to easily examine current month-to-month and year-to-year financials.
Strengthened Trust. Now that city financials are open to the community, the level of trust between the
administration and the community has improved.
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