Category: Press

January 9, 2018

Martin O’Malley Joins ClearGov Board of Directors

by Chris Bullock

Government Performance Pioneer to Support ClearGov’s Rapid Growth

Hopkinton, MA (1/9/18) – ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, announced today that former Maryland Governor, Martin O’Malley, has been elected to ClearGov’s board of directors.

O’Malley served as Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015 and previously served as Mayor of Baltimore for eight years.  O’Malley is widely recognized for his innovative approach to data-driven governing and has earned a reputation for pragmatic and effective governance via analytics.

“Governor O’Malley is a true pioneer in data-driven governance,” said Chris Bullock, ClearGov’s CEO and Chairman. “We believe his extensive experience in implementing performance management and analytics in government will be instrumental as ClearGov continues to expand rapidly across the country.”

Utilizing publicly available data, ClearGov has built nearly 40,000 infographic profiles of local governments and school districts.  Hundreds of local government agencies leverage the ClearGov platform to increase transparency and gather financial insights through the company’s sophisticated municipal benchmarking tools.

“A data-driven approach to governing has become the norm in large cities,” said Gov. O’Malley.  “ClearGov represents a powerful platform for tens of thousands of small and mid-size communities to take advantage of the latest technologies to improve government decision-making and drive transparency with a turnkey solution and minimal investment.”

“We targeted an independent director that would bring relevant and extensive government experience to the ClearGov team, and Governor O’Malley was at the top of our list,” said Bryan Burdick, ClearGov’s President.  “He is a proven leader at both the municipal and state level and we look forward to leveraging his real-world insights.”

O’Malley graduated from Catholic University, and went on to earn his law degree from the University of Maryland in 1988. That same year, he was appointed as an Assistant State’s Attorney for the City of Baltimore. Driven by the epidemic of crime, drugs, and poverty that he witnessed as a lawyer, O’Malley ran for Baltimore City Council at the age of 28, where he served for eight years.

In 1999, O’Malley was elected Mayor of Baltimore where he implemented a performance management and mapping program called CitiStat, which achieved tremendous success in improving the responsiveness, effectiveness and efficiency of the City’s operations.  The program is credited with saving the city $100 million through analytics-based service delivery and achieving the largest ten year crime reduction of any major city in America.  These accomplishments earned O’Malley Time Magazine’s distinction of “one of America’s top five big city mayors.”

In 2007 O’Malley was elected Governor of Maryland and brought his analytical prowess to the state house by establishing StateStat.  The widely-acclaimed program measurably improved the performance of government workers, improved water quality and deterred crime.  Under O’Malley’s leadership, Maryland’s school system became the top public school system in America for five years and the US Chamber of Commerce ranked Maryland the best state for innovation and entrepreneurship for three years in a row.  Dozens of cities and states across the country have since adopted similar programs.

To explore ClearGov’s local government transparency and benchmarking platform visit http://www.cleargov.com.

 

About ClearGov

ClearGov transforms city and town financial statements into accessible, easy-to-understand infographics to help citizens better understand how their tax dollars are being put to use.  Local governments use ClearGov’s SaaS solutions to reduce operational inefficiencies, make informed budgetary decisions and improve communication with citizens.

PRESS CONTACT:

Jena Skivington

585.507.5733

jskivington@cleargov.com

November 27, 2017

Bloomberg Baystate Business Hour on ClearGov

by Jena Skivington

ClearGov on Bloomberg Radio

ClearGov founder and CEO Chris Bullock spoke about the origins of the company and its growth as a provider of transparency tools for governments during a segment of The Bloomberg Baystate Business Hour with anchors Tom Moroney and Peter Barnes.

Check out the full segment here (minutes 22-29): The Bloomberg Baystate Business Hour

Bullock explained how his frustration over the lack of clarity in his town’s annual report provided the impetus to create tools that enable local governments and school districts to share where their local revenues come from and how they are spent. In the past two years since Bullock started shedding light on local government finances, ClearGov has translated publicly available data into easy-to-understand infographics for every city and town in the country (more than 36,000 government profiles).

Hundreds of local governments and school districts are now leveraging ClearGov’s platform to share details on vendor payments to residents and to help them analyze how their spending on specific services compares to surrounding communities.

In an era of growing skepticism about government, Bullock said ClearGov offers officials an important opportunity to be totally transparent with residents about tax and spending decisions and to help build community support.

October 2, 2017

ClearGov Introduces State and Local Government Rankings

by Chris Bullock

Easy to understand rankings provide context on demographic, tax, spending, and educational performance categories

State Government RankingsHopkinton, MA (10/2/17) – ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, has expanded its platform to include financial performance rankings of over 36,000 municipalities.  The company has also introduced state government fiscal analyses, which benchmarks state budgets.

The newly introduced rankings are built upon the breadth and scope of the ClearGov Insights™ national database, the world’s most comprehensive collection of government finances.  

ClearGov now offers per capita rankings for hundreds of categories including taxes, total revenue and spending on education public safety and employee benefits among other categories. The rankings, which can be filtered by county and population, also provide insight into demographic categories such as population growth, median home value and household income. In select states,  ClearGov also offers testing performance, per pupil spending and teacher salary rankings on local school districts.

ClearGov’s new state budget analyses not only provide taxpayers with a straightforward view of where states derive funding and spend tax dollars, but also benchmarks every budget category against contiguous states.  

“Our goal has always been to transform complex data into actionable intelligence,” said Chris Bullock, CEO and Founder of ClearGov. “It is our hope that our new state and local government rankings and analyses provide yet another opportunity for research and sharing of best practices across governments.”

Over the past two years ClearGov has gathered financial detail on nearly every city, town and village across the United States to create the world’s most comprehensive municipal financial database. The ClearGov Insights™ database now includes over $2.5 trillion in government spending across hundreds of budget categories.  Hundreds of towns, cities, villages and school districts leverage the ClearGov Insights™ platform to operate more effectively and efficiently.

About ClearGov

ClearGov transforms civic and school district financial statements into accessible, easy-to-understand infographics to help citizens better understand how their tax dollars are being put to use.  Local governments use ClearGov’s SaaS solutions to reduce operational inefficiencies, make informed budgetary decisions and improve communication with citizens.

September 29, 2017

ClearGov Launches Branded Transparency Portals

by Chris Bullock

ClearGov announced today a new feature that allows clients to easily create a branded transparency portal.   Local governments now have the option to add a community photo and seal at the top, all while still utilizing ClearGov’s infographic dashboards for financial and demographic analyses.  The custom-branded portal is made available via a private sub-domain of the ClearGov site.

The Village of Pinehurst, NC, is the first ClearGov customer to take advantage of the new branded transparency portal feature.   Check it out via the link below!

View Pinehurst, NC transparency portal here
May 24, 2017

ClearGov Ranks 7 on ELGL’s Top 50 Companies Working With Local Governments

by Chris Bullock

ClearGov topped the list at number 7 for the Haverford Choice awards from ELGL’s top 50 companies working with local governments.

The ClearGov Insights™ platform allows local governments to easily communicate their budgets to residents, and compare that information against similar peer communities.

“We are really excited to be in the top 10, alongside some really impressive organizations for the Haverford Choice awards,” says Chris Bullock, founder and CEO of ClearGov. “We love what ELGL has been doing to connect and educate the industry, and feel honored to be a recipient of this award.”

ELGL mentions their criteria for the award on their site: “The ELGL Evaluation Team used three criteria in selecting and ranking the top 50 companies: number of nominations received by each company (50%), comments submitted on each company (25%), and input from ELGL Evaluation Team (25%).”

Check out your local government’s transparency page here: www.cleargov.com.

May 17, 2017

ClearGov Announces World’s Most Comprehensive Municipal Finance Database

by Chris Bullock

local-government-financial-networkFinancial Transparency Network Now Spans Over 36,000 Municipalities Across All Fifty States

Hopkinton, MA (5/17/17) – ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, has announced today that its network of municipal transparency profiles now covers all fifty states.  Over the past two years ClearGov has gathered financial detail on over 36,000 municipalities to create the world’s most comprehensive municipal financial database.  The ClearGov Insights™ database now includes over $2.4 trillion in government spending across hundreds of budget categories.

“Governments across the country have made tremendous efforts to make data more open and transparent,” claims Bryan Burdick, President and Co-Founder of ClearGov.  “ClearGov is now taking this open data the next mile by making it accessible to the masses and delivering actionable insights to local government leaders.”

The ClearGov team has painstakingly gathered data sets from hundreds of open data portals and FOIA requests and combined them via a unique national chart of accounts.  Through ClearGov’s benchmarking algorithm, visitors can easily compare cities and towns against similar communities and gather powerful insights into local spending.

Nearly one hundred communities across six states are already leveraging the ClearGov Insights™ Platform to provide enhanced transparency and financial accessibility to residents and internal stakeholders.  One such community, the Village of Rye Brook, NY, has found tremendous value through ClearGov’s platform.  “Our residents have a strong desire for transparency and our old way of doing things – flat budgets in PDFs and spreadsheets – just did not meet their needs,” claims Chris Bradbury, Rye Brook Village Administrator. “After a quick and easy implementation, we were able to present our budget numbers in a way that everyone can follow and appreciate, which really enhanced the value of our presentation to the public.”

Government leaders are also mining the ClearGov Insights™ database to make more informed and data-driven budgetary and policy decisions via intuitive benchmarking tools.  

“The breadth and scope of the ClearGov Insights™ national database opens up new opportunities for research and sharing of best practices across governments,” said Chris Bullock, CEO and Founder of ClearGov.  “We truly feel that this is a watershed moment not only for ClearGov, but also for the open data industry.”

To explore ClearGov’s local government network visit http://www.cleargov.com.

 

About ClearGov

ClearGov transforms city and town financial statements into accessible, easy-to-understand infographics to help citizens better understand how their tax dollars are being put to use.  Local governments use ClearGov’s SaaS solutions to reduce operational inefficiencies, make informed budgetary decisions and improve communication with citizens.

 

PRESS CONTACT:

 

Jena Skivington

585.507.5733

jskivington@cleargov.com

April 11, 2017

ClearGov Demystifies Finances of Massachusetts School Districts

by Chris Bullock

ClearGov School District AnalyticsClearGov today launched a comprehensive analytics solution for school districts. The new ClearGov Insights™ for Schools platform enables school districts to better communicate with their constituents through easy-to-understand, interactive infographics on student demographics, staffing headcount and salaries, student test performance, district financials and much more. The platform also empowers district administration with back-office tools to quickly compare district performance against similar districts to identify opportunities for efficiency and make more informed and data-driven budgetary and policy decisions.

“Building public support is critical in today’s society.  There is so much data on schools available to the public that it is overwhelming for the average parent and taxpayer.  Telling our district’s story in a clear and compelling manner can help proactively address the public’s increased appetite for information and get everyone on the same page,” said Michael Welch, Superintendent of Dedham Public Schools.   In addition to Dedham Public Schools, twenty school districts across Massachusetts, including Easton Public Schools, Framingham Public Schools, and Wayland Public schools are now leveraging the ClearGov for Schools platform for increased transparency.

Utilizing publicly available data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), ClearGov has created easy-to-understand transparency websites for over 300 school districts across Massachusetts, which are available to the public for free today.  Taxpayers can not only compare expenditures for districts year-to-year, but also have the ability to break the budget down into specific categories of spending to see exactly how their tax dollars have been used.

School Districts can choose to upgrade and enhance their publicly available transparency site with additional dashboards, including:

Detailed Funding & Expenditure Analyses: Allow visitors to “drill down” into funding and expenditure subcategory details.

Student Body Analysis: Offers insights into changing student demographics, including enrollment trends, high needs students, student diversity, and more.

Employee Analysis: Informs visitors on trends in staffing with a particular emphasis on educators.

Test Performance Analysis: Communicates complex test scores in an easy-to-understand format with powerful benchmarking metrics.

State Aid Analysis:  Provides a comprehensive view of state funding sources, including Chapter 70, Circuit Breaker and more.

“Education spending can comprise a large portion of municipal expenditures and there are many factors that drive school district budgeting. ClearGov for Schools helps school districts better communicate not only financial and test performance, but also the ever-changing dynamics they must consider when budgeting,” said Chris Bullock, CEO of ClearGov.

In addition to providing the public access to easy-to-understand financials, the platform also provides a set of benchmarking analytical tools to assist district and school administration and school committees in making more informed policy and budgetary decisions.

“Data analysis and benchmarking have become a critical, yet arduous component of our budgeting and planning process. ClearGov for Schools delivers time-saving analyses and powerful insights for our administration,” said Dr. Andrew Keough, Superintendent of Easton Public Schools.

ClearGov Insights™ for Schools is currently available in Massachusetts and will become available in additional states in the near future.

March 29, 2017

ClearGov Raises $1.2 Million Seed Round to Help Drive Government Transparency and Efficiency

by Chris Bullock

Making Democracy Work Better.Hopkinton, MA (3/29/17) – ClearGov, a leading provider of local government transparency and benchmarking solutions, announced today that is has raised a $1.2 million seed round to fund its rapid expansion.  Local governments use ClearGov’s enterprise SaaS solution to reduce operational inefficiencies, make informed budgetary decisions, and improve communication with citizens.  The seed round was led by Kepha Partners and included MassVentures, as well as a host of angel investors.

“ClearGov’s team has a proven entrepreneurial track record and the company’s traction with local governments in Massachusetts speaks for itself,” said Eric Hjerpe, partner at Kepha Partners.  “The company’s solution is incredibly topical as governments are increasingly battling misinformation, making the need to improve transparency and build public trust ever more important.”

Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Chris Bullock and Bryan Burdick, the company has transformed complex, public data sets from state and national entities into a network of easy-to-understand financial profiles on over 20,000 local governments across 20 states.   Each town profile includes an infographic-style breakdown of revenues, expenditures and debt, which are compared to statistically similar towns to provide taxpayers with context to every figure.

“ClearGov has created an invaluable tool not only for citizens, but also for government officials to access and, more importantly, utilize public spending, taxation and budgeting information,” said Jennifer Jordan, vice president at MassVentures.

The company’s premium InsightsTM service allows local governments, such as Brookline, MA and Decatur, GA, to enhance their basic ClearGov profiles with more granular financials and commentary on fiscal trends.  Local governments then promote their ClearGov site as a “transparency center” to the public via their town website, social media and town meetings to help drive trust through transparency.

ClearGov InsightsTM also includes web-based software that enables government leaders to identify potential areas for improved efficiencies by comparing their finances against similar communities via the company’s extensive database of over $1.8 trillion of government expenditures.  A local government could, for example, analyze the cost efficiency of its snow and ice removal program by comparing expenditures to neighboring towns with similar road miles.

“This investment is an important step in our vision to make democracy work better.  ClearGov is much more than financial transparency; we are providing insights to taxpayers and officials that can help improve the effectiveness of their local government” said Chris Bullock, CEO and founder of ClearGov.  “Ultimately, we believe our platform has the potential to positively impact millions of people through a more informed and efficient democracy.”

To explore ClearGov’s local government network visit http://www.cleargov.com.

 

March 22, 2017

Village of Rye Brook Launches First ClearGov Transparency Site in New York State

by Chris Bullock

Village of Rye Brook, NY

The Village of Rye Brook announced today that it has partnered with ClearGov to launch the state’s first infographic-based fiscal transparency center. The new tool provides taxpayers an easy-to-understand, visual breakdown the Village of Rye Brook’s budget and financial history from 2011-2017, including insights into the village’s demographics. The site also informs visitors on how each budget item compares to neighboring municipalities for the period 2011-2014.

The Village of Rye Brook is the first municipality in New York to leverage the new ClearGov platform, which also showcases basic profiles of every municipality in the state. The Village has added detailed revenues and expenditures breakdowns of its General Fund, as well as the Capital Projects Fund.

“In todays society the public interest in seeking information online has increased dramatically. The Village wanted to get ahead of the curve by not only making our budget more accessible, but also to present it in a way that makes it easier for residents to get information about the Village’s finances,” said Rye Brook Mayor Paul Rosenberg. “It was also important for the village to provide context to this information by sharing how our finances stack up to other similar villages, towns and cities in the area,” he continued.

Rye Brook Village Administrator Chris Bradbury adds “Rye Brook is pleased to be at the forefront of a growing number of municipalities that are seeking to build public trust in local governments by increasing transparency and using data analytics in a way that supports budgetary and policy decisions.”

ClearGov sources publicly available financial data on municipalities to create easy-to-understand transparency websites for over 20,000 municipalities across the United States, which are made available to the public for free.  Municipalities can choose to upgrade and enhance their publicly available transparency site with more robust information and provide context through commentary on the figures.

“We are excited to partner with the Village of Rye Brook to bring enhanced transparency to New York,” said Chris Bullock, CEO of ClearGov.  “Residents should be proud of the leadership position Rye Brook has taken with this project and technology.”

Visit Rye Brook’s ClearGov site:
http://www.cleargov.com/new-york/westchester/village/rye-brook/2016

January 19, 2017

ClearGov Expands Government Fiscal Insights Platform with Open Checkbook

by Chris Bullock

Partners with Town of Brookline to Share Check-level Expenditure Detail

Wayland, MA (January 18, 2017)  – ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, announced today that it has partnered with the Town of Brookline, MA, to introduce new functionality to its platform which empowers local governments to share check-level expenditure detail with residents. The new tool enables taxpayers and internal stakeholders to explore expenditures by specific transaction and see every check the town has issued to vendors.

“Our goal continues to be better transparency in government operations and improved access to how tax dollars are being spent” said Mel Kleckner, Town Adminstrator of the Town of Brookline.  He continued, “We’ve partnered with ClearGov to create a site that not only clearly illustrates how the town allocates funding, but also raises the bar on the level of financial detail available to the public from our prior system.”

ClearGov sources publicly available financial and performance data on municipalities to create easy-to-understand transparency websites for thousands of municipalities across the United States, which are made available to the public for free.  Municipalities can choose to upgrade and enhance their publicly available transparency site with more robust information and provide context through commentary on the figures.  Open Checkbook by ClearGov is now an optional module that enables visitors to drill down to the check-level detail on expenditures and identify all payments to individual vendors.

Brookline is at the forefront of a growing movement of towns in Massachusetts that have partnered with ClearGov to transform complex financial statements into clear and actionable fiscal insights.  The platform not only provides the public with access to easy-to-understand financials, but also delivers a centralized source of financial data and benchmarking analytics to municipal officials to help them make more informed policy and budgetary decisions.

“We are incredibly excited to support Brookline’s forward-thinking transparency efforts,” said Chris Bullock, CEO of ClearGov.  “Open Checkbook by ClearGov is a natural extension of our fiscal clarity and insights platform, which allows residents and internal stakeholders to better understand how tax dollars are being put to work.”

Visit Brookline’s ClearGov site:

http://www.cleargov.com/massachusetts/norfolk/town/brookline/2016

 

Press Contact:  

Chris Bullock

508-308-0440

 

About ClearGov

ClearGov helps local governments communicate and operate more effectively and efficiently through a unique fiscal clarity and insights platform.  Local governments leverage ClearGov to more clearly communicate their financial performance in an effort to build citizen support and participation through transparency. ClearGov also provides valuable municipal benchmarking intelligence to help government leaders quickly compare their finances against similar communities in an effort to make more informed and data-driven policy and budgetary decisions.