NORFOLK, Va., May 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The City of Scranton, Pennsylvania, has partnered with MuniServices, LLC, a business of PRA Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:PRAA), to provide EZTransparency™, a user-friendly, interactive tool to help citizens quickly visualize and understand complex city budgets.
Offered by MuniServices to support the White House Open Government Initiative, EZTransparency™ enables council members, municipal staff and taxpayers to quickly understand city spending by providing searchable and downloadable information about the city’s budget.
“Municipal budgets are often presented in large, static PDF files that can be extremely difficult to navigate,” said Patrick Scott, vice president of Muni East and subsidiary IT. “EZTransparency™ provides a simple, intuitive interface that allows citizens to drill down into the budget and see exactly where their tax dollars are being spent.”
“The city’s current process involves posting a budget document on the city’s website in PDF format, which is not easy to read or user-friendly, and contains layers of budget information,” said Scranton business administrator David M. Bulzoni. “As a result of a request for proposal process, we selected MuniServices to implement EZTransparency™ because the city was seeking the most efficient tool on a cost-effective basis to maximize budget transparency for citizens.”
EZTransparency™ is an economical solution that creates and hosts a transparent budget from a municipality’s PDF files, with no city finance staff, IT resources or technology integrations required. EZTransparency™ also provides a searchable check register to minimize open records requests.
In July 2015, EZTransparency™ was featured in the U.S. Conference of Mayors Business Council Best Practice Report, which noted that the technology platform maximizes transparency at all levels of government and increases participation in the budget process.
For more information about EZTransparency™, please visit www.eztransparency.com.
About MuniServices
Founded more than 35 years ago, MuniServices, LLC, a business of PRA Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:PRAA), provides revenue discovery, recovery and compliance services to states and more than 1,000 municipalities nationwide with our PRA Government Services, Revenue Discovery Systems (RDS) and Broussard Partners & Associates (BPA) brands. Our efforts have resulted in reduced administrative costs and the identification of more than $2.4 billion in unreported local taxes and fees. For more information, please visit www.muniservices.com.
About PRA Group
As a global leader in acquiring and collecting nonperforming loans, PRA Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:PRAA) returns capital to banks and other creditors to help expand financial services for consumers in the Americas and Europe. PRA Group companies collaborate with customers to help them resolve their debt and provide a broad range of additional revenue and recovery services to business and government clients.
PRA has been recognized as one of Fortune's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies for three years, one of Forbes' Best Small Companies in America for eight consecutive years, and one of Forbes’ Best Midsize Employers in America in 2016. For more information, please visit www.pragroup.com.