Sussex County is trying to make it easy for the public to follow the county government’s finances.
The new online portal seeks to make the county’s finances more transparent. It was unveiled at last week’s Sussex County Council meeting.
The portal will allow residents to see how Sussex County is spending taxpayer money.
County Finance Director Gina Jennings explains how the main components are broken down in the portal.
"We have the budget which is just basically taking what we have on the general ledger and the financial system and comparing it to budget, we have the checkbook which will outline the checks that we've paid, and then we have payroll and this is the expenses of payroll. So how much is it costing us for a certain department, things like that," said Jennings. "Individual paychecks are not out there."
All of the information can be searched, sorted, and graphed, and Jennings notes the information on the portal is in real time.
"I feel like there's a need to put out there to the public what our finances are. So with that said you need to understand that this is real time so as my accountants are keying stuff in and doing things it's showing up right here immediately," said Jennings.
Because it’s in real time sometimes certain numbers might look odd, but Jennings said that because the Finance Department might be reallocating funds at that time.
You can access the portal through the finance page on the county’s website.
