A project by Laura Melahn, Candidate for Menlo Park District 4 City Council
About this project

A plain-English window into the City budget.

This site exists to help Menlo Park residents understand where their City tax dollars go, and to bring a sharper question to the next public meeting. Every number traces back to a City document, so you never have to take our word for it.

What we hold ourselves to

Four values

Accessibility

The first sentence of anything here should make sense to a high-schooler. Jargon gets a plain-English translation, and the detail is there for those who want it.

Rigor

Every number resolves to a City document. We never estimate. When a figure is rounded, we say “approximately.” If a number has no source, we don’t show it.

Completeness

We show the whole picture, including the awkward parts: funding gaps, open questions, and risks the City itself has flagged.

Transparency

We show not just what was decided, but how: what staff recommended, how the Council voted, and which document recorded it.

Where the numbers come from

Source documents

Every figure on this site is built from these public City documents. Data is current as of June 2, 2026.

The Ask feature

How the “Ask” feature works

The Ask a questiontool uses Anthropic's Claude model. When you ask something, the model queries the same sourced database described above and writes a plain-English answer.

  • Every response is generated only from this budget database — it does not browse the web.
  • Responses are not reviewed by City staff and may contain errors. Each answer shows the exact tables and source documents it used so you can check it.
  • Every answer carries the badge “One possible explanation based on the published budget data” and points you to the next public meeting.
  • The authoritative way to get an answer is to attend a public meeting or email the Council directly.
About the creator

Who built this

This site was built by Laura Melahn, a Menlo Park resident who serves as Vice Chair of the City's Finance and Audit Commission. Laura is also a Candidate for Menlo Park District 4 City Council in 2026.

Laura built this tool because she wanted a way for residents to see the budget the same way she sees it on the Finance and Audit Commission: every number traceable to a source document, every decision tied to the Council action that made it, and every funding gap surfaced rather than hidden. The site is the same whether or not she is on the ballot. It uses the City's own numbers, cites the City's own staff reports, and tells the same story to everyone who reads it.

To learn about Laura's campaign for City Council, visit lauramelahn.com. Campaign communications, endorsements, and the full Laura Melahn for City Council 2026 disclosures live there.

An independent project

This is an independent civic project. It is not an official City of Menlo Park website, and the City does not run or endorse it. For official information, or to weigh in on the budget, contact the Menlo Park City Council.

Found an error? Because every number is sourced, you can check it against the linked document. If something looks wrong, that traceability is how we fix it.