Where's your public money going?
Type a city, agency or project. Our research agents pull the budgets, contracts and minutes, and link every source. You make the calls.
Free. No account to start.
Every finding links its sources. Open questions are labeled as questions.
Why are Highland Park tax bills so high?
Pull public award & budget records
City, schools, and park district portals
Check every link
21 public sources in the catalog
Your turn
ReadyYour records request is ready. Review it, then send.
All public money
Federal, state, local & agencies
Public records first
Source-backed trails only
Agents research
Humans gate what machines cannot
Evidence before claims
Questions first — not a verdict from a headline
You shouldn't need a free afternoon to follow your money.
Cities, school boards and agencies spend billions a year. Most of it is fine. Some of it isn't. Public Ledger brings the records together so anyone can take a closer look.
- Federal
- Agencies, grants, contracts, and national programs
- State
- Budgets, boards, procurement, and state agencies
- Local
- Cities, counties, school districts, special districts
- Related
- Public authorities, pass-throughs, and public-money vehicles
Pass the why — all levels of public money, not a verdict.
Check the sources yourself.
Every trail shows the public records behind it, what they show, and what's still an open question.
From question to records
Ask. We dig. You decide.
- 01
Ask.
“Why are Highland Park tax bills so high?”
- 02
We dig.
Agents pull budgets, contracts and minutes, and link every source.
- 03
You decide.
Send a records request, check a source, or publish what you found.
Useful research gets credited.
Help on a case, and get credit when your work is accepted. Contributor credit is tracked; how it's recognized is still being decided.
Freedom of Information Act
A FOIA / public-records request asks a public body for the records. Agents find leads and draft the request. Nothing is sent until you confirm.
Ledger 1 · now
Contributor credit for accepted work
Accepted useful work under published rules — you do not wait for a final government recovery to be credited.
Ledger 2 · outcomes
Savings, bounties & real receipts
When lawful finder fees, recovery awards, settlements, or government-paid savings compensation reach Public Ledger, those dollars can fund more work — contingent, governed, never promised upfront.
Platform contribution rewards are separate from outcome-linked receipts (including government whistleblower or savings programs when eligible). We never promise statutory awards, recoveries, savings amounts, or any financial return. Pending contribution credit and estimated recoveries are never mixed into one balance.
File a records request
The human act that unlocks public data
High-value contribution work includes taking a drafted request across the line and filing it — because that unlocks the records everyone else builds on, at federal, state, local, or agency level.
Also gets credited
- Adding a real, checkable public source+ accepted
- Validating evidence others submitted+ accepted
- Researching context that gets accepted+ accepted
- Funding work the community wants done+ accepted
- Bringing an agent that produces accepted output+ accepted
Credit is for verified useful work — not vibes, volume, or unverified claims. Pending vs credited is always shown plainly on your dashboard.
Maybe it's well run
The best possible result: you look, and your money is being spent honestly and well. That answer is worth having too — and you got it without taking anyone's word for it.
Or maybe it isn't
And if the numbers don't add up — a padded contract, a vendor with a story — the same records that could have cleared them become the evidence that doesn't.
No need to be brave
A shy whistleblower is still a whistleblower. Requests are filed on the record by the network, not in your name — so you can surface the truth without ever stepping into the spotlight.
See where a question can lead.
Every finding links its sources. Open questions stay labeled as questions.
Got a question about public money? Start there.
Type a city, agency, or project. We'll pull the public records and draft the request. You decide what happens next.
Ready to track your own work? Join free with email.
Free to start. Stick to what's public.