Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A new report aims to highlight the City of Brighton's efforts to increase financial transparency.

Over the past few months, a team of graduate students from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy has worked with City of Brighton staff on a report presenting the City’s financial information in a way that is understandable and meaningful to residents.

The document highlights the City of Brighton's revenues and expenses, liabilities and assets, and recent capital improvements. It also provides context for key financial and accounting concepts to help readers better understand how the City plans, budgets, and delivers services.

The Ford School students and City of Brighton invite the community and stakeholders to stop by Brighton City Hall Chambers at 200 North 1st Street on Tuesday, May 12th from 4 to 5pmto learn about the student’s process of creating this report and get a sneak preview of its main sections.

The project is part of the University of Michigan’s Ford School Public Policy Consulting Clinic. The collaboration provides local governments increased capacity to advance projects and students an opportunity to engage in real world projects that advance municipal missions.

Students started working with the City of Brighton in the beginning of January and will wrap up the project later this month.

The goal of the project is to provide residents and stakeholders an approachable report that allows them to engage with the City of Brighton’s finances.

The group says the report will provide City of Brighton financial information in a visually-engaging format, along with additional explanations and context. The exact content of the report will be driven by stakeholder conversations and best practices.

During the presentation, students will share the process they went through to create this PAFR, which included research into best practices, stakeholder engagement, and mapping findings to report sections.

The final publication will be available later this summer on the City of Brighton’s website.