When it comes to money, a municipality is supposed to be an open book.

That’s not just a metaphor. The book in question isn’t a euphemism. It’s literal. The way a city or a borough or a township spend its money — whether from its own residents or passed through from state or federal government — is completely open to public review.

That is because government money is the people’s money. The people, therefore, get to have a say in how it’s spent, whether it’s standing up at a meeting and opposing a decision or just deciding to vote in someone whose spending philosophy is more in line with their own.

And that doesn’t just apply to the bills on the table. It goes for plans, as well. That is why the way government bodies project their spending is structured the way it is.

For instance, a municipality in Pennsylvania must have a budget by the end of the calendar year on Dec. 31 and a school district by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. No exceptions. The state requires it — which yes, is a bit hypocritical given how many times the state passes its own June 30 deadline without a budget in place, but that’s a different editorial.

That doesn’t mean the officials in question can just meet at the last minute and pass something outside the public eye. A budget is passed in stages. The tentative budget comes first, often after a series of budget committee meetings that are open to the public. After the tentative budget is passed, it is open to review by the people for 30 days before final approval can be entertained.

So what happened with Upper Burrell? Township supervisors adopted the tentative 2022 budget but declined to make that budget available when a Tribune-Review reporter requested a copy. Instead, township secretary Melissa Cortileso said that a Right-to-Know Law request would have to be filed.

This isn’t just a problem because it goes against the law. The people have a definite interest in exactly what that budget includes because it raises taxes by 20% in the wake of a property tax appeal that removed $39,000 in revenue from Arconic, the municipality’s largest property owner.

Upper Burrell did subsequently release the information Friday, but the exchange should be a caution to other municipalities entering the budget approval season. A budget is not just any public document. It is the public checkbook, and there is never a reason to prevent the people from knowing exactly how the money is being spent.

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