Ever Wonder Where Your Taxes Go?

A Maynard-based startup, ClearGov Inc., aims to bring more transparency to cities and towns. Rather than just posting a dense, detailed document about municipal finances, like many towns do, ClearGov customers can present their finances in easy-to-understand infographics alongside comparable statistics from other towns. (Boston Business Journal, June 6, 2018)
Since its founding in late 2015, ClearGov has raised $3.75 million and grown to about 25 employees. The startup collects financial data on municipal governments — often from state departments of revenue—and creates free webpages that display the data.
On social media in August, Ashland Town Manager Michael Herbert announced Ashland’s partnership with ClearGov.
Herbert posed these questions: “Interested in seeing how your tax dollars are spent? Interested in seeing what your taxes and fees are like compared to other communities? How about what we spend on things like education compared to previous years and surrounding towns?”
“As part of our continued efforts to increase financial transparency for residents and stakeholders,” Herbert wrote, “I am pleased to announce our new partnership with the government analytics website ClearGov. With this tool, citizens have the opportunity to look at exactly how their taxes and fees are spent, and more importantly how we compare to other communities. The analytics are extremely powerful, and you can break things down by per capita spending for each category for both general funds and enterprise funds.”
“The data is taken from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue and the United States Census and other regulatory agencies. I encourage you to take a look around and put together your own comparable metrics and statistics. We will be interested in what you discover,” Herbert said.