How to make utility finances less complex for stakeholders & council members
Humans are visual creatures; from infancy to early childhood, pictures and visual cues are paramount to our understanding of iconic stories like The Cat in the Hat or Where the Wild Things Are.
As we get older, we become able to interpret and understand larger and more complex stories and abstract ideas — but the visuals remain, except now they are in our minds instead of on paper. This leads to a difference in interpretation of information, even when two people read the exact same reference.
In municipal government that also exists, and the information we now interpret includes large, complex data sheets filled with numbers and dates. This disparity is at the crux of a much larger issue: getting finance, public works and engineering departments, as well as city council, on the same page about capital funding plans. When it comes to the world of municipal water systems, these complications can ultimately delay much needed upgrades in operation and infrastructure.
WATER & WASTE DIGEST
BY JP JOLY
JAN 26, 2022