While this marks the 12th consecutive year winning the award, it’s the first time Northville Township has submitted an online budget to the GFOA Budget Awards Program.
Northville Township introduced the live budget in October 2024. It partnered with OpenGov to enhance transparency and provide residents with a budget that is easier to understand and navigate, officials said. Users may access the township budget data by fund, department, revenues and expenditures. Not only is the scope of information more substantial than was previously available in a static PDF format, but the financials are also updated daily to see the most current data possible with every viewing, they added.
“This online budget was a labor of love, and we’re extra proud of GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award this year,” said Northville Township Finance & Budget Director Wendy Hillman.
The interactive tool includes personnel organizational charts, in-depth stories on new initiatives and a five-year capital improvement plan. Clickable icons allow users to choose whether they want to display graphs showing changes over the years, a pie chart for a single year, or download portions into Excel.
Users may browse through all the departments that support our community and click on links that offer more information. Eventually, Northville Township will introduce video content to the budget book as well.
“Northville Township firmly believes in transparency and watching each taxpayer dollar we spend,” said Township Treasurer Jason Rhines. “This GFOA honor lets the Board of Trustees and our residents
know that we are succeeding on many levels, fulfilling our core purpose to connect, engage and serve the community.
