CANAAN.FINANCE

Your Tax Dollars — Digitized

Public budget transparency tool for Canaan, NH. Salaries, department budgets, meeting attendance, and financial history — all public record under NH RSA 91-A.

Live: canaan.finance

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Features

• Department-level budget breakdowns with per-position salary data
• Effective hourly rate calculations based on posted hours vs. compensation
• Verified vs. estimated data transparency (green dot = verified, orange = estimated)
• Meeting attendance tracking parsed from official town minutes
• Per-official documented meeting hours with committee breakdowns
• Year-over-year budget comparison
• Per-capita spending analysis
• Four views: Departments, All Salaries, Meetings, Overview

Stack

• Next.js 14 + React 18
• Supabase (Postgres)
• Vercel
• Python (meeting minutes scraper)
• GitHub Actions (automated weekly scraping)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/OpenSourcePatents/Canaan.Finance.git
cd Canaan.Finance
npm install

Create .env.local:

NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=your_supabase_url
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your_supabase_anon_key

npm run dev

Database

Run scripts/schema_and_seed.sql in your Supabase SQL Editor. This creates all tables and seeds 2026 Canaan budget data.

Then run scripts/meeting_records_schema.sql to add the meeting records table and attendance summary view.

To add historical years — just insert new rows into budget_years, budget_lines, and positions with the appropriate year value. No code changes needed.

Meeting Minutes Scraper

The scraper pulls meeting minutes from canaannh.gov/AgendaCenter, extracts start/end times, attendees, and duration from the PDFs, and pushes structured data to Supabase.

Local usage

pip install requests beautifulsoup4 pdfplumber

# Scrape all minutes, output JSON only
python scripts/scrape_minutes.py

# Scrape Select Board 2026 only
python scripts/scrape_minutes.py --committee "Select Board" --year 2026

# Scrape all and push to Supabase
export SUPABASE_URL=your_supabase_url
export SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY=your_service_role_key
python scripts/scrape_minutes.py --push

Automated scraping

The GitHub Action at .github/workflows/scrape-minutes.yml runs every Monday at 3am EST. It scrapes all new minutes and pushes them to Supabase automatically.

Required repo secrets:

• SUPABASE_URL — your Supabase project URL
• SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY — your Supabase service role key

The Action can also be triggered manually from the Actions tab with optional committee and year filters.

What it extracts

For each meeting with published minutes:

• Meeting date and committee name
• Call to order time and adjournment time
• Calculated duration in minutes
• Full attendee list parsed from the header
• Tracked officials identified by name match (Select Board members, Town Administrator, department heads)

Disclaimer

Documented meeting hours represent only public meeting time with recorded start and end times. They do not include prep work, driving, after-hours calls, training, non-public sessions, or other work performed outside of public meetings. Actual hours worked are likely higher than what meeting minutes capture.

Data Sources

All data is public record under NH RSA 91-A (Right to Know Law):

• Operating budget: Valley News reporting on 2026 voter-approved budget
• Salaries: Town job postings, Valley News, and canaannh.gov
• Office hours: canaannh.gov staff directory
• Meeting minutes: canaannh.gov/AgendaCenter
• Annual reports: scholars.unh.edu and canaannh.gov

Items marked with a green dot are verified. Orange dot = estimated pending annual report confirmation.

Project Structure

Canaan.Finance/
  app/
    page.js              # Main React frontend (all four views)
    layout.js            # Next.js layout
    globals.css          # Global styles
  lib/
    supabase.js          # Supabase client config
  scripts/
    schema_and_seed.sql  # Core database schema + 2026 seed data
    meeting_records_schema.sql  # Meeting records table + attendance view
    scrape_minutes.py    # Meeting minutes scraper
  .github/
    workflows/
      scrape-minutes.yml # Automated weekly scraping

License

Apache 2.0 — OpenSourcePatents. Not affiliated with the Town of Canaan, NH.