Digestible Financial Transparency

City of Ferris, TX

The City of Ferris is committed to providing clear and meaningful financial information not only by posting financial documents but also through summaries, visualizations, downloadable data and explanations of city processes.  The city is participating in the State of Transparency Star program, recognizing governments for going above and beyond in transparency efforts.

SSA’s New Wait Time Metrics

NextGov

The Social Security Administration claims improvements in phone service response time as it relied on a new “average speed of answer” metric. But a report by the Office of Inspector General found this metric is dramatically lower than the amount of time it actually takes to get ahold of an SSA employee by waiting on hold or requesting a callback – a metric SSA no longer reports publicly.

Resource of the Week:  San Diego Office of Evaluation, Performance, and Accountability

County of San Diego, CA

This office helps manage the county’s data portal and conducts research and evaluation projects such as the efficacy of guaranteed income as a prevention strategy in child welfare and the use of rent subsidies to prevent homelessness among older adults.