Town launches first digital platform for in-depth budget exploration

Interested in diving further into the town’s fiscal year budget? 

The town of Longboat Key recently launched its first Digital Budget Book through a platform called ClearGov. According to the town’s website, staff with the Finance Department were working for a year on the digital tool for citizens. 

This digital budget “provides a comprehensive, transparent and easy-to-understand overview of the Town’s finances,” according to a public notice from the town. 

A general overview at the start of the digital budget gives citizens insights into the town’s history and current demographics. Some data here includes things like the daytime population of about 9,051, which represents the number of people coming to or leaving the island for work, entertainment, shopping or other activities during a workday. 

It also shows an estimate of the population by age group, which is mainly in the range of 65 to 84 years old. 

In the digital budget, citizens can see specifics about the overall budget, fund summaries, debt, capital improvements and a detailed overview of each department. 

Included in these breakdowns are charts and graphs for fiscal year 2025. In FY2025, the town is expecting $23.12 million in revenue for the general fund, which is a 9.4% increase from the previous year, according to the digital budget. General fund expenditures are expected to be around $24.63 million, a decrease of 4.2% from last year.

Graphs present the budget in new formats, like the “Total Funding Requested by Department,” which divides the total $79 million requested to the different departments and town areas. This number includes carryover from the previous fiscal year. 

Department breakdowns include some specifics of what each department does, department objectives, an organizational flow chart as well as expenditure summaries from FY2020 to FY2025. The expenditure summaries also divide the expenditures by operating expenditures, personnel services and grants and aids. 

To explore the Digital Budget Book for FY2025, visit the town’s website then go to “Town Government,” “Departments,” “Finance” and click “Annual Budgets” to find the FY2025 information at the top of the page.