Method and editorial standards
Every material claim on this site links to the public record behind it. Official records come before secondary reports, calculated figures are marked as calculated, and analysis is labeled as analysis.
Which sources come first
When sources disagree, the higher one in this order controls, and the page says which one it used.
- Official records. Adopted budgets, audited financial statements, approved minutes and recorded votes, adopted ordinances, court filings, and state agency data.
- Official working documents. Agenda packets, staff reports, proposed budgets, and meeting recordings. These show what was considered, not always what was decided.
- Secondary reports. News coverage, advocacy material, and other summaries. They point to records worth finding. When one is cited because no official record covers the point, it is named as a secondary source.
Recorded and calculated figures
A recorded figure appears in a public document, such as an adopted levy or a payment on a claims list. A calculated figure is worked out on this site from recorded ones, such as a cost per household or a change from one year to the next. Calculated figures are labeled, and the method sits next to them or on the section's sources page.
Each number states what it measures and for what period. Figures that measure different things, such as a budget and actual spending, or an alleged loss and a court finding, are never added together or used in place of each other. Calculator results are scenarios built from values the reader chooses. They are not forecasts and not budget figures.
What the provenance labels mean
Most figures carry no label. A table states its source once, and only the exceptions are marked. These are the same definitions shown on the Help page.
- Source checked
- A person compared this against the original document and confirmed or corrected it.
- Official data
- Copied or imported from a named government source without AI interpretation.
- AI-extracted
- Identified by AI from the meeting record. It may be wrong, so check the linked source before relying on it.
- Transcript-derived
- Inferred from a meeting recording or auto-caption, not the official minutes. Check it against the minutes when they post.
- Agenda-only
- Based on the posted agenda or packet. Final outcomes are not recorded yet because the meeting has not happened or the minutes are not out.
- Minutes not posted
- The official minutes for this meeting have not been published yet.
- Outcome unknown
- The record we have does not say how this resolved.
- Dormant
- No recent activity, and a final disposition is not on file. It may already be resolved.
- Needs human review
- Flagged for a reviewer and not yet checked against the source.
- Scenario assumption
- A modeled what-if (for example a Tax Lab projection), not a figure recorded in the budget.
Labels for page types, budget stages, and fraud case stages are in the full label glossary.
How analysis is kept apart
Pages that interpret the record are written by Dan Swenson and marked Dan's analysis or Opinion at the top. Amber marks his analysis and nothing else on the site. Record pages, tables, and calculators carry no opinion. Analysis cites the same records the rest of the site uses, so a reader can test whether the conclusion follows from them.
How AI is used
AI helps read scanned records, pull figures and text out of them, organize meeting records, write and test code, and draft parts of reference pages. Signed analysis is written by Dan, not by AI.
AI output is either checked by a person against the source, which earns the Source checked label, or shown as AI-extracted so the reader knows to check the linked record. Other tools and models are used to challenge the work. The original document stays linked so any figure can be checked against the page it came from.
How corrections work
Factual errors are fixed and logged publicly with the date and what changed. Routine maintenance is not logged. A useful report names the page, the statement or number, and the source that shows the right answer. Reports are checked against the record before anything changes.
Independence and conflicts
MN Public Tools is an independent project. No city, county, or other government funds, maintains, or reviews it, and it is not a City of Nowthen publication. Dan Swenson serves on the Nowthen City Council and writes here in a personal capacity. Pages that explain votes he cast are labeled as analysis.
Method pages for each section
Larger sections document their own sources and limits.
Where the Nowthen tax rates, levies, and bill estimates come from.
District, county, and state records behind the referendum guide.
Audits, utility reports, rate sheets, and what the record cannot settle.
How case figures are classified, from alleged amounts to court findings.
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