How One Elected Official Is Making Public Accounting Public
Municipal budgeting is often seen as a bureaucratic exercise, hidden behind dense financial reports and technical jargon. But David Jenkins, a city councilor in La Plata, Maryland, is working to change that. He’s on a mission to make public accounting truly accessible to the public.
Jenkins, a retired urban planner, was inspired to take up this cause after encountering the work of Strong Towns. “I'm not a finance guy, but your campaign about transparency and budgeting inspired me,” he told Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Strong Towns’ director of Movement Building.
When he ran for office in 2021 — this would be his fourth and final term — he found himself in the thick of a particularly contentious budget cycle. Finance wasn’t his strength, he says, but it became of utmost importance. He saw firsthand how hurtful an opaque budgeting process can be. “We had to raise our taxes for the first time in years ... [and] we did a very poor job as a town of telling people about the budget and the process,” he recalled. “While we had a full room for the two public hearings, they didn't know what was going on. They literally did not know.”
Getting the Information out There
Determined to improve public understanding, Jenkins launched a series of podcasts and videos explaining La Plata’s budget process. From outlining the budget calendar to unpacking financial indicators, he provides a roadmap for residents to engage with their town’s financial health. Inspired by the work of Michel Durand-Wood and Chuck Marohn, Jenkins took a deep dive into La Plata’s financial history, analyzing audit statements going back to 2009. With the help of spreadsheets and expert guidance, he was able to uncover key financial trends and explain them in plain language to his community.
"It’s not just about revenues and expenses," he explains. "It’s about what’s happening behind the scenes and what it means for the future."
Despite his efforts, Jenkins acknowledges that transparency isn’t just about making numbers available — it’s about making them understandable. Many municipalities claim they are transparent simply because their budget documents are public. However, as Strong Towns has pointed out, an overwhelming amount of information without context can be just as opaque as secrecy.
This challenge became clear when a resident recently reached out to Jenkins. “I got an email from a resident who's from my ward … and he was asking all kinds of questions about the budget,” he said. “So we're going to have a Zoom call maybe next week. And I sent him all the materials, but his question … [it] highlighted why I'm doing this: because there's a need to know.”
Jenkins’ work is particularly urgent given La Plata’s rapid growth. The town of 11,000 residents has seen major annexations and new housing developments, raising questions about infrastructure costs and long-term liabilities. “How are we going to pay for all this stuff in future years? What about water and sewer and all that goes with it? What about maintenance costs?" Jenkins asks. These are the kinds of questions he hopes more residents will start asking as well.
A Model for Other Communities
Jenkins’ work is a testament to the impact one person can have in shifting the conversation. His story echoes that of many Strong Towns members who, after encountering ideas about financial resilience, began interrogating the illusion of wealth that has defined their hometowns.
For those inspired by his efforts, Strong Towns provides a wealth of resources. Upcoming events, such as a session with Joe Minicozzi of Urban3, will further highlight the importance of understanding where public money is going and whether it is being invested wisely. And the online event that inspired Jenkins in the first place, “Parsing Through Your Local Budget to Find Some Real Answers,” can be accessed on the Strong Towns Academy.
As Jenkins prepares for his final budget cycle on the council, he remains hopeful that his efforts will spark lasting change. "We're getting a lot more diversity, frankly, and what I mean by that is younger energy,” he says. “So I hope that translates into folks running for office, but more importantly, [I hope they] actively engage with the town and [start] asking the hard questions.”
Listen to David Jenkins talk about fiscal health on the Bottom-Up Shorts podcast.
To learn more about finance in a Strong Town, visit strongtowns.org/accounting.
If you’re interested in joining or starting a local Strong Towns group, visit strongtowns.org/local
