Why No One Understands Your Budget, and Why That’s a Problem

In 2025, transparency isn’t enough. If your residents don’t understand your budget, they’re unlikely to support it.

TL;DR

• Most residents don’t read government budgets and even fewer grasp them.
• A lack of understanding leads to mistrust, resistance, and low engagement.
• Leaders can build support by making budgeting personal, visual, and interactive.
• A new wave of public finance tools and strategies is reshaping how communities connect with their dollars.

The Problem Isn’t Your Numbers, It’s the Narrative

Every year, public finance teams pour hundreds of hours into preparing a city or county budget. It’s a technically precise, policy-driven, spreadsheet-laden document. It also might be the least-read piece of public content your government produces.

The truth is: most residents aren’t budgeting experts. They don’t intuitively understand line items like “interfund transfers” or “enterprise fund revenue.” What they do care about is:

• Why their road hasn’t been fixed.
• Whether the new park will have shade.
• If police response times are improving.

But the connection between dollars and decisions is often buried in 300 pages of budget detail, an impenetrable wall of numbers that frustrates the public and fuels mistrust.

Why It Matters More Than Ever

In today’s climate of political polarization, staffing shortages, and tight margins, you need the public on your side. When people don’t understand your budget, three things happen:

1. You lose trust. People assume the worst when they can’t see where the money goes.
2. You get pushback. Projects get delayed, meetings get derailed, and budget hearings turn confrontational.
3. You miss out. Good ideas - like climate resiliency, social equity, or infrastructure upgrades - stall because residents don’t see the value.

This isn’t just a communication problem. It’s a leadership one.

The Real Job: Translating Money Into Meaning

To shift public understanding, finance leaders need to become translators, bridging the gap between technical accuracy and human relevance. That means:

• Show impact, not just allocation. What outcomes do these dollars drive?
• Use resident-friendly categories. “Public safety” resonates more than “general fund expenditures.”
• Offer trade-offs, not take-it-or-leave-it proposals. Let residents see what happens when one priority replaces another.
• Visualize it. Budgeting is abstract until you make it tangible.
  
  

The Shift to Participatory Finance

Across the country, forward-thinking governments are reframing the budget not just as a document, but as a conversation. Tools like participatory budgeting, interactive simulations, and taxpayer receipts are helping leaders:

• Explain funding constraints without jargon.
• Invite residents to experiment with real trade-offs.
• Build consensus before tough votes happen.

• And crucially transform critics into collaborators.

If You’re Struggling to Build Understanding, You’re Not Alone

This is hard work. It takes cross-departmental coordination, the right tools, and a willingness to rethink the role of the budget in public life.

At Polco, we’ve worked with over a thousand communities to bridge the gap between financial strategy and public understanding. Whether you're trying to educate the public, surface priorities, or build support for big investments, our tools - including interactive budget simulations and AI-powered assistants - are designed to make budgeting understandable, transparent, and shared.

Because in 2025, the budgets that succeed aren’t just balanced. They’re believed in.