A new online resources shows how the region's largest city allocates and spends its annual budget.

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Citizens of Asheville now have a new online resource to view and analyze the city of Asheville’s budget. Code for Asheville, a volunteer-run “Brigade” of Code for America, released a web application for exploring Asheville’s pubished annual budget data.

“Look at Asheville” (http://codeforasheville.org/look-at-asheville/) offers graphs and drill-downs through the $130 million per year spent by the city, letting local residents see how money has been allocated and spent over the past five years among the city’s major departments and internal funds. The data includes both revenue and expenditures and will be updated with current year budget figures as they are published by the city.

Based on an existing application whose source code was first published by programmers working with Open City in Chicago, Code for Asheville used available open data as well as a public records request which city officials quickly fulfilled.

About Code for Asheville:
Code for Asheville, a local Brigade of Code for America, launched in January 2013. Code for Asheville is a group of volunteers that promotes access to open government data and leverages the power of the internet to help government work better for everyone.

-Press release from Code for Asheville, shared May 17.

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Angie Newsome is the executive director and editor of Carolina Public Press. Contact her at (828) 774-5290 or e-mail her at anewsome@carolinapublicpress.org.

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