AGA's Citizen-Centric Government Reporting Initiative
Chapter
Challenge—Promote Government Accountability to the People
It’s Our Responsibility—Earn
Bonus Chapter Recognition Credits!
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“Thank you AGA for
developing these tools to help governments be
accountable to the citizens they serve! Keep up the
good work.”
Christa Brooks,
Special Projects Coordinator,
Division of Administration
Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services |
AGA still
needs your help with encouraging governments to produce and
publish four-page Citizen Centric Reports! The Citizen-Centric
Reporting Initiative has become one of AGA’s hallmark programs.
The
reports, designed to be visually appealing, provide
understandable information to citizens about the performance and
financial condition of the government as well as demographics
and future challenges--that answer the question, “Are we better
off today than we were last year?”
“We are
answering to the responsibility we have as financial managers to
leave this world better than we found it. If we do not do this,
no one will. We are calling on all governments to be accountable
to the citizens they serve,” said Relmond Van Daniker, AGA’s
Executive Director.
The City of Saco, Maine was the first entity to produce a
citizen centric report in March 2007, and since then, upwards of
forty governments have produced reports. The challenge remains
to encourage more governments to adopt the four-page
report for greater transparency and accountability. Five
hundred and even one thousand reports do not sound out of reach.
View the completed reports here.
The League
of Women Voters has endorsed this project and is calling on its
local chapters to promote it in their areas. AGA is asking its
chapters to do the same. Look around your own home and workplace
for opportunities to sell the concept of citizen-centric
reporting to officials in your area. Working together, we can
make our governments more accountable to the people they serve!
Tools Make
It Easy
AGA has developed a
Content Guidelines
Template
outlining what information should be
included on each page as well as a
Design Guidelines
Template
outlining the physical layout of the
report.
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“We know that
governments have a reputation for being good at
collecting taxes but not necessarily as good at being
accountable for how those tax dollars are spent, Saco
wants to change that. This report has both the good and
the bad. And while I’m glad to say there’s more ‘good’
to report in Saco these days, this report is chock full
of challenges coming down the pike. We’re hoping to
inform a thoughtful debate on these issues.”
Mayor
Mark Johnston
City
of Saco, Maine |
Last
but Not Least—Bonus Credits!
Earn
Chapter Recognition bonus credits for the 2008-2009 Year under
Section V, Membership:
·
Make contact with a government,
encourage them to produce and publish a four-page Citizen
Centric Report—100 credits per contact made (please forward
information to Susan Fritzlen)
·
Government that you contacted
produces and publishes a four-page Citizen Centric Report—500
credits per published report (please forward pdf of published
report to Susan Fritzlen)