Graphing Revenues, Expenditures,
and Taxes Program (G.R.E.A.T.)
What is GREAT?
The
GREAT software package contains statewide databases for all counties and
municipalities from 1987-2005. The acronym GREAT
 stands for “graphing revenues,
expenditures and taxes.” It is a tool to automatically map out revenue,
expenditure, and property value and tax information. For the most part, the data
is very summary and combines a number of government activities or revenue
sources under one heading.
Because
of this, the information is instructive, not prescriptive. The real value of the
software program is in providing educational programs on various elements of
public finance for local officials and citizens. The purpose of the program is
to start local discussion and examination of local budgets and financial
management, services provided, and how they are financed.
What is the schedule for
completing and updating GREAT?
GREAT was first introduced to county UW-Extension faculty during
an inservice held in June 2000. A beta
version of the software and
education materials was distributed.
Since that time several updates and refinements have been made to GREAT.
Version 3.0 was released in June of 2006 and
is available
through county UW-Extension offices. The program has been distributed on a CD
which contains the software, manual, a pocket guide and eight tutorials
providing instruction on how to use the software. Computer system
requirements are listed on the CD jacket. Adobe Acrobat 5.0 is necessary to
print out the manual and pocket guide and a recent version of Windows Media
Player is required to hear the audio portion of the tutorials that include PowerPoint presentations. Both can be
freely downloaded from the CD.
It is anticipated that new software versions will be released in March of each
year and include the most recent available data.
What training materials
and support are available for the GREAT software?
Local officials who use the GREAT software have three
resources immediately available to them from the CD:
- The Pocket Guide
(lists the steps for each function of the software)
- Word
file, 118 kb
The Manual
- Word file, 1.4 Mb
The Tutorials
County offices, where the software is available, are also
a resource.
In 2007, the CD contains two property tax templates, along with instructions, that can be used in public education programming. Both templates use data from the GREAT CD.
How
is GREAT accessed?
At
the present time
GREAT
is available only through UW-Extension offices.
Contact
the Extension educator responsible for Community Resource Development for your
county.
If
you have any questions, please call Steve Deller,
UW-Extension Community
Development Economist at (608) 263-6251 or Kate Lawton,
UW-Extension Local
Government Specialist, at (608) 263-2980.
Return
to Local Government Finance Page.
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