Introduction

It has become increasingly clear that you can’t really trust the City of Norman to provide timely, relevant information (or to even follow its own rules, really). It is possible, however, to figure out some things we, as citizens, need to know without relying on the City. If we want to make good decisions going forward, we will need to do exactly that.

As a partial step in this direction, I am setting up this blog to track Norman Forward Sales Tax (NFST) revenues. I will be following the media reports about sales tax receipts and comparing them with our revenue goals.

I recognize that there are lots of ways to ‘slice this pie’. I am going to start with two - described in a methodology post to follow - but I invite other suggestions. I am also interested in hearing, in particular, about other sources for the latest NFST data. Ultimately, I would like to influence the City into doing something like this on its own - this is the sort of information people need to make decisions, not soothing reassurances or dire warnings.