Municipal government is complex. It faces unique challenges, but its operation is critical for the growth and evolution of the communities it serves. The relationship between the local government and its residents is built on a mutual understanding that residents pay taxes and governments provide services in return. Therefore, it is imperative that constituents trust that their local government makes wise budgetary choices that benefit the community.

Data and Storytelling

An important function of government is to help stakeholders understand the activities that keep their community running smoothly. One of the best ways that city officials can explain the reasoning behind their decisions is to show it through data, as it provides concrete evidence of a city’s needs.

To enhance resident approval, governments should detail the project and its desired outcomes to stakeholders through compelling storytelling paired with data gathered from an asset tracking solution. It may not sound enticing to tell a story about the need to spend $5 million to dredge the local stormwater drainage pond, for example, but with context, data, and the right level of detail, storytelling could help to secure necessary funds.

Data is integral to storytelling. This is where a computerized maintenance management (CMMS) system and asset investment planning (AIP) software each play a crucial role for local governments, as CMMS collects and tracks work done on community assets, while AIP tracks risk and condition to create more accurate long-term financial plans. Together, these solutions support leaders in their decision-making with data.

Why Address the “Why”

So why do local governments need to tell stories at all? While government leaders with insight into public infrastructure may understand an asset’s story through data, external stakeholders may need a more relatable and tangible reason why the government has decided to pursue certain projects over others.

Government officials must communicate how they plan to use taxpayer money and the expected outcomes of those plans to receive community support for projects, especially those that may require additional funding. It could be challenging to receive budget approval if residents believe the government is wasting money. In short, to receive community support, local government officials must demonstrate the fiscal and operational outcomes that will happen upon the project’s completion.

The Important Elements of Storytelling

Stories are one of the best ways that people retain information, particularly if they are relatable and relevant, and when coupled with concrete data, residents can better understand how their local government is budgeting taxpayer dollars, making it easier to support projects in their entirety. However, it does take time, trust, and a lot of data to build buy-in from the community for major capital expenditures.

Storytelling sounds easy, but it can be a complex process to ensure constituents better understand a complicated subject. To be effective, stories must contain three important elements:

Audience-appropriate Detail

Government officials need significant amounts of data to make decisions, but not all data needs to be externally shared. It is more effective to synthesize the data into a story to communicate both need and solution. Too many charts, graphs, or data elements can make the issue more difficult to understand. A good story combines the right amount of data and detail for the audience.

Relationship to the Larger Context

A community’s master plan is its “big picture,” as it lays out the objectives the community agreed upon. The plan provides guidelines for the local government’s activities and expenditures. For example, a town may want to grow its business community and therefore put resources into tax credits and economic development activities. Without the larger context, these efforts appear random and unrelated. They must be tied to a story that brings together diverse projects to reach a stated goal—in this case, the goal of the master plan.

Supported with Data

Effective storytelling must utilize data. For example, if a local parks department proposes redeveloping a highly used park, and the cost is higher than the townspeople anticipated, the town may not receive public support needed to gather additional funding if they only know about the higher cost. However, with data, the town can show how aging infrastructure and old equipment impacts the park’s usability, leads to high water utility costs, negatively impacts a nearby wetland, and creates an unsafe environment for local children. The story becomes more compelling with data and instills trust in the town’s intentions. This example illustrates that the easy answer isn’t always the right answer, even from a fiscal point of view. Spot-fixing the park would have been ineffective as the same issues would have likely persisted. Therefore, governments must collect and associate data to identify trends and issues that may otherwise go unnoticed.

How to Tell the Story

As governments look to tell data-driven stories, asset investment planning (AIP) software is playing a critical role in helping governments prioritize capital investments and long-term financial goals. AIP provides real-time insights into the status of the community’s physical assets and infrastructure, helping local government officials make decisions on which projects and upgrades to prioritize and where to allocate the budget.

AIP solutions can also track and predict an asset’s lifecycle, providing insight into the community’s infrastructure. Its predictive modeling helps community leaders prove capital spending needs and assess asset risk and health based on different funding scenarios and deferred maintenance requests. These details let the government decide if they will use the funds to upgrade, repair or replace the assets in question. When paired with a compelling story, this data goes a long way to ensure residents understand the local government’s priorities, and in turn, where their taxpayer dollars are going, which helps to solidify the trust between the government and its people.

JENNIFER PERKINS is a senior government industry specialist, at Brightly, a Siemens company.