Multi-Media Budget Project

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

The days of delivering information through words alone simply doesn’t cut it. In today’s visual world, content must be presented in multimedia formats in order to be effective. The County’s budget is perhaps its most important document, yet we knew readership among much of our target audience was low. The Communications team and the Finance team teamed up to revamp our budget materials – both print and digital - to make them reader-friendly and visually appealing. The result was a new budget summary featuring eye-catching graphics for the budget book, an online budget portal, and a creative budget video. The county administrator and elected officials responded very positively to the new budget summary and board members expressed that it was much easier to read. The online budget portal received nearly 1,400 website views over the last year. The budget video has garnered nearly 1,500 views, and other jurisdictions have contacted us with an interest in reproducing it. In summary, for little to no cost, we implemented a multi-media campaign to increase transparency and understanding about the budget and county services, and increase confidence in how tax dollars are being spent among residents and taxpayers.