Residents can get a closer look behind the curtain at Bainbridge Island City Hall with the launch of a new financial analysis platform powered by OpenGov.com.

City officials said the system will give islanders, elected officials and staff unprecedented access to the city’s finances.

The web-based tool provides instant access to the city’s finances in an interactive, user-friendly format, and people can easily explore how taxpayer money is collected and spent.

OpenGov is currently used by nearly 300 cities, counties, state agencies, school systems and special districts across the country.

“We are excited to provide this additional tool for residents who are interested in seeing how the city spends its resources,” said Finance Director Ellen Schroer. “It’s especially suited to those people who want to do their own analysis and drill down into the details of the City’s finances.”

The platform may be accessed at http://www.bainbridgewa.gov/691/OpenGov.

“This is an important step in our continuing effort to create a transparent local government, and I am proud that the city of Bainbridge Island is among the early adopters choosing to leverage the benefits of the OpenGov technology,” said City Manager Doug Schulze.

The OpenGov platform displays government spending and revenue detail from 2010 to the present.

Users can view historical revenue and expenditure trends over time and explore multiple views of financial data, including by fund, department, expense or revenue type.

The current year report provides insight into spending and revenues year-to-date through March.

For example, visitors can use the system to answer frequently asked questions such as “What did the city spend on personnel over the past five years?” or “How much did the city collect in sales tax?” and then share that information directly from the platform via email or on social media.

With the OpenGov Checkbook report, visitors can also quickly view and search thousands of expenditure transactions dating back to 2010. The data can be instantly searched and filtered according to specific detail such as vendor name, date, description and even dollar amount.