A new engagement platform aims to help officials in Rochester Hills better invest public dollars into what taxpayers want, one official says.
Like many cities in the U.S., Rochester Hills, Michigan, often struggles to make enough time and money available to city leaders to accomplish their policy and program goals. But a new financial data management platform aims to help city officials more efficiently plan for the city’s budget based on resident feedback and engagement.
The Michigan suburb about 30 miles north of Detroit is home to nearly 80,000 people and is operating on a $223.3 million budget through 2028, according to the city’s budget plan report. In its entirety, the report contains 366 pages that detail how city funds are divided across public works projects, police and fire departments, infrastructure plans, staffing needs and other services.
“The art is allocating those dollars efficiently and administering them effectively,” Joe Snyder, the city’s chief financial officer, told Route Fifty. But “there are two things that no one has enough of: time and money. There are way more demands than we have money for, and I wish we had more time to do these things.”
Route Fifty
By Kaitlyn Levinson,
Reporter, Route Fifty
June 5, 2026