Try Claude
Generate ChartTurn data into chart images fast
AI Tools for Government Budget Analysts
AI tools that help government budget analysts research economic indicators, benchmark peer jurisdictions, model financial scenarios, and produce clear budget documentation.
Get started for free
Works in Chat, Cowork and Code
Tax Revenue Index (2015=100)
Unemployment Rate (%)
Economic indicator research and forecasting
Pull GDP, employment, inflation, and tax revenue data from FRED and World Bank to build economic baselines and revenue forecasts. Ground budget projections in real economic data rather than historical averages.
Pull monthly state and local tax revenue data from FRED for the last 5 years, plus the unemployment rate and CPI. I need to model the relationship for our revenue forecast.
Returned 3 time series: State/Local Tax Revenue (FRED series SLTAX) — 60 months of monthly data. Unemployment rate — seasonally adjusted (UNRATE). CPI Urban — all items. Correlation: tax revenue leads unemployment changes by ~2 quarters. Revenue declined 6.2% during the 2020 dip, recovered 14.3% by 2022.
ToolRouter fred_series
S&L Tax Revenue ($B)
Unemployment Rate (%)
Peer jurisdiction benchmarking
Research how comparable cities, counties, or states structure their budgets, manage reserve funds, and set spending priorities. Use peer data to justify budget recommendations to elected officials.
How do mid-sized US cities (population 200K–500K) typically structure their budget reserves? What percentage of annual revenues do they hold in reserve funds?
Research from GFOA surveys and 6 city CAFRs: recommended reserve is 2 months of operating expenses (16.7% of revenues). Median actual reserves: 14.2% for cities in this range. Cities with AAA bond ratings average 19.3%. Outliers: Austin holds 25% rainy-day fund post-pandemic; St. Louis holds only 8% — highlighted as credit risk by Moody's.
ToolRouter research
GFOA recommendation
2 months of operating expenses (16.7% of revenues)
Median actual reserve
14.2% for cities in this population range
AAA-rated cities
Average 19.3% — higher reserve supports credit rating
Low-reserve risk
St. Louis at 8% — cited by Moody's as credit risk
Grant and federal funding research
Search for federal and state grants that can supplement local budgets for capital projects, public safety, parks, and social services. Quantify the grant funding opportunity before budget submissions.
Find open federal grants for municipal broadband infrastructure and digital equity programs. We're a city of 300K looking for capital funding.
Found 7 open opportunities: BEAD Program (NTIA) — states receiving allocations now, apply through state office; Capital Projects Fund (Treasury) — $10B allocated, check with state for status; Digital Equity Capacity Grant — max $1M, nonprofits and local governments eligible, deadline March 31. Compiled full details for each.
ToolRouter search_grants
ProgramAgencyMax award
BEAD ProgramNTIAState allocation
Capital Projects FundTreasury$10B national
Digital Equity Capacity GrantNTIA$1M
7 open opportunities for cities 300K+
Federal spending flow analysis
Track what federal contracts and grants are flowing into your jurisdiction to understand the full picture of public investment. Identify agencies and programs sending money to your state or locality.
Show all federal grants and contracts awarded to the City of Cincinnati in the last fiscal year. Break down by agency and program area.
Found $284M in federal awards to Cincinnati in FY2024: HUD ($98M — CDBG, HOME, Section 8 admin); FHWA ($72M — road projects); EPA ($41M — water infrastructure); DOJ ($18M — COPS, Byrne JAG); HHS ($33M — CSBG, Head Start); DOT ($22M — transit). Largest single award: EPA Clean Water SRF grant $28M.
ToolRouter search_grants
AgencyProgramAward ($m)
HUDCDBG, HOME, Section 8 admin98
FHWARoad projects72
EPAWater infrastructure41
HHSCSBG, Head Start33
$284M total federal awards · FY2024
Budget visualization and presentation
Turn raw budget numbers into clear charts for elected official presentations, public hearings, and budget documents. Create trend charts, department comparisons, and revenue/expenditure breakdowns.
Create a pie chart showing FY2025 proposed general fund expenditures by department: Public Safety 38%, Public Works 22%, Health & Human Services 18%, Parks 8%, Administration 7%, Other 7%.
Generated a clean pie chart with 6 segments color-coded by department. Public Safety largest segment in blue (38%). Added a data table beneath with exact dollar amounts (assuming $200M general fund). Chart is formatted for council presentation — white background, clear labels, no chartjunk.
ToolRouter create_chart
Budget ($M)
Financial regulation and compliance research
Research GASB standards, GFOA best practices, and state-specific budget laws to ensure compliance. Stay current on accounting changes that affect how the budget document is prepared.
What are the GASB 96 requirements for subscription-based IT arrangements? How does this change how we account for our cloud software subscriptions in the budget?
GASB 96 (effective FY2023 for most governments): cloud-based software subscriptions where the government controls use = subscription-based IT arrangements (SBITAs). Must recognize a right-to-use intangible asset and corresponding subscription liability on the balance sheet. Annual budget impact: move recurring SaaS costs from operating expenses to capital/debt service treatment for the intangible asset amortization.
ToolRouter research
Effective date
FY2023 for most governments
Scope
Cloud SaaS where government controls use = SBITA
Balance sheet impact
Right-to-use intangible asset + subscription liability required
Budget treatment
SaaS costs shift from operating to capital/debt service amortization
Ready-to-use prompts
FRED economic data
Pull FRED data for the following series for the last 10 years: state and local government tax revenues, total nonfarm payroll employment, and the 10-year Treasury yield. Identify key turning points.
Reserve fund benchmarks
Research what percentage of annual revenues US city governments of 100K–300K population hold in general fund reserves. Include GFOA recommendations and actual medians.
Federal grant search
Find open federal grants for local government public safety and emergency management — FEMA, DOJ, and DHS sources. Show deadlines, eligibility, and max award amounts.
Revenue trend chart
Create a line chart showing hypothetical city general fund revenues from FY2018 to FY2024 with annotations for COVID impact in FY2020 and ARPA funding in FY2021.
Federal spending lookup
How much federal funding has the State of Michigan received from DOT, EPA, and HUD in the last 2 fiscal years? Show by agency and program.
GASB standards research
Summarize the key GASB standards affecting government financial reporting that have gone into effect between 2020 and 2025, including GASB 87, 96, and 99.
Budget comparison chart
Create a grouped bar chart comparing per-capita general fund expenditures for public safety, public works, and parks for 5 comparable mid-sized cities.
Tax revenue analysis
Research how sales tax revenue volatility during recessions compares to property tax volatility for US local governments. Which revenue source is more stable?
Tools to power your best work
Deep ResearchAI research reports with citations
Economic DataCensus, FRED, and labor stats
Government SpendingUS federal contracts, grants & budgets
Grants FinderFind grants, funding fits, and precedent
165+ tools.
One conversation.
Everything government budget analysts need from AI, connected to the assistant you already use. No extra apps, no switching tabs.
Annual budget preparation package
Build the economic baseline and peer benchmarks needed to support the annual budget submission.
Mid-year budget review
Assess actual vs budgeted performance and prepare an analysis of needed adjustments.
Capital funding strategy
Identify and quantify federal grant opportunities that can fund major capital projects before the capital budget is finalized.
Frequently Asked Questions
What economic data sources does the Economic Data tool cover?
Economic Data connects to FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), which has 800,000+ time series from the BEA, BLS, Census Bureau, and Federal Reserve. It also accesses the Census Bureau's American Community Survey API directly. You can search by series name, category, or source agency.
Can these tools pull data for my specific jurisdiction?
Yes. Economic Data supports queries at the national, state, county, and zip code level for ACS data. FRED state-level series are available for most major economic indicators. Government Spending lets you filter federal awards by recipient state, city, or county. For local budget data, you'll need to input your own figures into chart tools.
How do I use Government Spending to track federal grant inflows?
Government Spending queries USASpending.gov, which tracks all federal contract and grant awards. You can search by recipient (state, city, or specific agency name), awarding agency, and fiscal year. It returns award amounts, program names, and award descriptions — useful for compiling a full picture of federal funding flowing to your jurisdiction.
Can Generate Chart create publication-quality budget charts?
Yes. Generate Chart produces clean, professional charts from your data in multiple formats. For budget documents, you can request specific color schemes, data labels, and chart types (pie for budget shares, bar for comparisons, line for trends). The output is suitable for inclusion in budget PDFs and council presentation slides.
How current is the federal grant data in Grants Finder?
Grants Finder aggregates from Grants.gov and agency-specific portals. Open opportunities are current — the tool shows posting date and application deadline for each result. Closed programs are filtered out unless you specifically search for them. Some competitive federal programs have unpredictable notice timelines, so setting up regular searches is recommended.
Give your AI superpowers.
Get started for free
Works in Chat, Cowork and Code