Reading the numbers
Disclosures
Budgets are plans, not proof of spending. Each box shows a reported amount or a labeled calculation, with its period and sources.
Three budgets, not one total
The City, Schools, and Park District are separate governments with overlapping responsibilities and funding. Do not add their headline totals together.
The City headline is net. Transfers between City funds that are counted twice explain the gross figure but are not added to the net headline.
Check the period
- City: calendar year 2026.
- Schools: FY2026, July 2025–June 2026.
- Park District: labeled FY2026.
Payments and project spending may cover different or partial periods, and may be unaudited. Check each box before comparing figures. All amounts are US dollars; open a box for its exact amount.
Shares and adjustments
A child line is part of its parent, not an extra amount. Card and table percentages use the parent budget. Negative adjustments reduce that total, so positive lines can add up to more than 100%. Percentages are omitted when the parent is zero or negative.
Dots and flow ribbons use positive amounts only. Their shares use the positive-category total, not the net budget. Negative and zero-dollar lines remain in the accompanying lists. Facts shown separately are outside the budget flow.
Estimates, payments, and missing detail
A line can be a budget, published estimate, our estimate, leftover after known parts, or adjustment. Where no reliable split exists, the path stops. A large final box does not mean one person or company received all of it.
“Adds up exactly” means the detail reconciles to a published total. “Paid so far” covers only the period shown, not a full-year budget or forecast. A contract value is not an amount paid. Budgeted positions are not necessarily filled jobs or payments to named people.
See the glossary, methods, and documented gaps. The explorer is not a live ledger or a guarantee of complete agency records.
What the dots mean
The flock illustrates a budget snapshot, not live transactions. Dot counts represent budget shares. Movement, position, and clustering do not show spending over time, geography, or efficiency. Each budget has its own dollar value per dot.
Dot counts and motion controls
Each budget uses 240 equal-value dots, allocated to positive immediate categories and rounded by the largest-remainder method. Tiny categories may round to zero dots but stay in the list. Displayed percentages use exact amounts, not rounded dot counts. Small categories may be grouped in an expandable “other categories” row.
Negative adjustments are not drawn as dots. The City headline is net, while its dot shares use the positive-category total shown beneath the list. Switching budgets changes the denominator independently.
Separation, alignment, and cohesion make the dots flock. Pause for a still view; reduced-motion preferences automatically stop animation.
Verify a figure
Use the box’s source and period, or browse the source records. Report a correction with the box URL and conflicting source.
Source coverage and data export
Sources include budgets, reports, and datasets with different definitions and dates. References are retained where available; some identify a document without a direct public link. Estimates and residual calculations are not exact allocations published by an agency.
Data export built . This is the export time, not each source’s publication date or reporting period.