In an effort to have budget and spending transparency, the County publishes the spendingMontgomery data dashboard that compiles revenue and spending information. You can dive into the data, and even download the data for your own analysis.
We jumped into the 2023 Expenditure Ledger and downloaded the data so we could run a more comprehensive analysis. The shocking element was that though the County is attempting to be transparent it falls drastically short because they shield some of the data.
So far for FY23 there has been 108,345 transactions totaling $2.66 billion dollars. Of these 108,345 transactions there are 25,485 transactions in which the vendor, as opposed to being the name of a company or individual, is a unique ID number. So for 23% of the transactions, totaling over $156 million dollars, the public has no idea who the money actually went to.
In looking at the data, here are the vendors that received the largest amount of money:
| Vendor | Total |
| 416147483 | $ 46,500,000.00 |
| 2307612995 | $ 11,213,633.57 |
| 2106666003 | $ 5,983,124.86 |
| 3654191130 | $ 4,740,816.00 |
| 2932837214 | $ 3,185,605.18 |
| 2788780333 | $ 2,611,695.49 |
| 1781160190 | $ 2,268,235.95 |
| 3582849111 | $ 2,040,683.00 |
| 1311234944 | $ 2,000,000.00 |
| 677168069 | $ 1,801,117.61 |
A total of 21 vendors have received more than $1 million dollars. These are not necessarily single payments. For instance, vendor 2307612995 has had 6,700 invoices paid by the County. Though the public can’t tell who is receiving the money, it can tell the general purpose of the money.
| Description | Total Amount |
| Loans – Housing Initiative | $ 53,524,471.32 |
| Professional Purchase Of Service | $ 24,212,680.52 |
| Public Assistance | $ 18,505,037.13 |
| Building Or Space Rentals/Leases | $ 15,289,645.66 |
| Disability Services | $ 7,579,823.24 |
| Adult Shelters Services | $ 4,418,765.11 |
| Laboratory Services | $ 3,450,341.82 |
| Loan – Home Grant | $ 3,259,933.65 |
| Family Services | $ 3,061,039.64 |
| Other Rentals / Leases | $ 2,739,454.29 |
| Child Care Services | $ 2,580,266.16 |
| Other Rental Assistance Program Benefits | $ 2,320,573.26 |
| Emergency Housing Assistance | $ 1,819,328.44 |
| Other Professional Services | $ 1,410,112.10 |
| Alternative Living Unit | $ 1,350,462.98 |
| Medical Services | $ 1,291,574.73 |
| Other Public Assistance | $ 1,271,119.25 |
| Senior Services | $ 1,265,473.90 |
| In Home Services | $ 1,074,661.23 |
| Legal / Attorney Services | $ 933,328.15 |
| Family Shelter Services | $ 913,333.28 |
| Client Assistance Payments | $ 869,154.84 |
| Respite Care Services | $ 663,176.34 |
| Audit Foster care Services | $ 581,210.77 |
| Flex Dollars | $ 316,938.22 |
| Instructor Services | $ 247,152.03 |
| Evaluation Services | $ 234,442.08 |
| Grants – Community Development Block Grant Rehabilitation | $ 204,726.95 |
| Emergency Foster Care | $ 195,488.43 |
| Electronic Monitoring Services | $ 168,250.55 |
| Other Uniforms | $ 118,197.34 |
| Emergency Housing Services | $ 103,141.96 |
| Other Medical/Health Supplies | $ 97,577.79 |
| Uniforms | $ 87,478.21 |
| Transportation Subsidy | $ 85,731.31 |
| Assisted Housing Payments – County | $ 71,411.48 |
| Vests | $ 56,199.94 |
| Other Non-Professional Services | $ 54,940.41 |
| Animal Supplies/Equipment | $ 43,957.67 |
| Radio Equipment | $ 42,419.53 |
| Volunteer Recognition Services | $ 40,919.43 |
| Animal Care | $ 40,832.98 |
| Reimburse In Home Aid Services Clients | $ 39,701.30 |
| Investigative Travel | $ 39,372.63 |
| Uniform Cleaning | $ 33,686.90 |
| Weapons Other | $ 27,173.36 |
| Tuition Assistance – Municipal & County Government Employees Organization (MCGEO) | $ 26,030.46 |
| Tuition Assistance – Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) | $ 25,172.13 |
| Tuition Assistance – Unrepresented | $ 24,605.00 |
| Taxi Service | $ 22,996.51 |
| Extradition Of Prisoners | $ 19,870.81 |
| Life Line Services | $ 13,334.79 |
| Radiology Services | $ 13,332.00 |
| Electricity | $ 12,755.09 |
| Stipends | $ 12,310.00 |
| Tuition Assistance – Volunteer Firefighters | $ 12,300.00 |
| Foster Care | $ 11,184.73 |
| Preparation Of Transcripts/Recorders | $ 8,333.75 |
| Drugs And Medicine – Client Reimbursement | $ 8,117.62 |
| Other Miscellaneous Operating Expenses | $ 5,027.29 |
| Water & Sewer | $ 5,000.00 |
| Tuition Assistance – International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) | $ 4,281.99 |
| Warrants & Fugitive Extradition | $ 4,097.83 |
| Background Checks | $ 2,478.00 |
| Psychological Services | $ 1,710.00 |
| Informant Payments | $ 953.71 |
| Other Supplies & Equipment | $ 596.45 |
| Public Safety Training | $ 465.59 |
| Non-Metropolitan Area Travel | $ 437.00 |
| Uniform Repairs/Alterations | $ 419.00 |
| Professional Memberships (Individual) | $ 50.00 |
| Gasoline | $ 31.00 |
The question remains though: why would the County have an illusion of transparency in its spending? Why will they not release the business names or individuals that have received the money?
