DENVER – Pueblo County unveiled a ray of sunshine on its own financials this week.

It announced Monday it has created a “financial transparency application” accessible to the public with the help of OpenGov, a company that specifically deals with government budgeting.

In a news release the county said it will relieve citizens – and curious, data-driven journalists – of having to sift through reports that can be more than 200 pages long.

“As stewards of public money, the public deserves to know where their dollars go. More than 57.8 percent of the County’s $163 million budget comes from taxes. Now, within a few clicks of the mouse, they can see where the county expends that money,” Commissioner Garrison Ortiz said in a statement about the new application.

Ortiz, elected in 2016 after ousting former commissioner and state Rep. Buffie McFadyen in a primary, told local news station KOAA that his strong suit as a commissioner would be looking at capital investments. The young Pueblo Democrat has a MBA from Colorado State University-Pueblo and was working in investments leading up to the election.

Now, others can look at county investments as well, and see data such as social services, comprising up 20 percent of the county budget and decreasing slightly from 22 percent the year before. Or, that the county collects nearly $2.2 million in recreational marijuana licenses and permits.

A quick tour of the new site shows easily-accessible charts of marijuana revenue, money in the road and bridge fund, how revenue is made and tons more.

OpenGov was founded by a Stanford University technologists following the Great Recession. They found that local governments were having trouble tracking financial data and communicating goals to citizens, according to their website. Now more than 1,800 public agencies in 48 states use OpenGov.