Feedback Needed: Kentucky Open Door
6 October, 2008
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear is requesting feedback on the state’s new transparency site, Kentucky’s Open Door. Gov. Beshear created the site through executive order, but likely followed the lead of visionary Secretary of State Trey Grayson. The deadline for comments is October 17th.
Experiencing some writers block?
Shop for ideas on Sunshine Review’s Transparency Checklist or check out Americans for Tax Reform’s outstanding proposals here.
H/T: ATR
Trib lists reasons for budget crunch- leaves transparency out
6 October, 2008
The Chicago Tribune asks today: Why do Chicago and Mayor Richard Daley face $420 million budget shortfall?
This is the Trib’s explanation:
1. Many city workers make a lot more than average Chicagoans.
The generous wages and benefits given to many in the roughly 38,000-strong municipal workforce amount to 80 percent of the cost of running the city’s government, making it impossible to significantly cut the budget without reducing personnel costs.
2. The city depends heavily on taxing real estate sales.
Despite the burgeoning housing crisis, which began last year, Daley’s budget analysts expected to reap $210 million from real estate transfer tax revenue this year, slightly more than in 2007. Instead, with the real estate sales slumping, the city’s analysts believe that this revenue will total no more than $155 million. No other municipality in the state has a higher real estate transfer tax than Chicago’, according to the Chicago Association of Realtors.
3. Millions of tax dollars are siphoned to boost development.
More than $500 million a year goes into the city’s tax-increment financing (TIF) accounts, according to Cook County Clerk David Orr. Diverted from property tax revenues in Chicago’s 160-odd TIF districts, the funds are used to subsidize development projects in those areas rather than going to the school system, parks and the city’s general fund. That main operating fund, which supports police, fire and other services, is the one that is facing a funding shortfall.
4. City Hall builds little cushion into the budget.
Every year’s budget is merely a forecast of how much government expects to rake in and how much of that money will be spent. City officials should keep 5 percent to 15 percent of their operating budget in reserve, according to the Chicago-based Government Finance Officers Association.
Wages, real estate, TIFs, and cushion… but where’s the Transparency? Citizens should have easy access to lobbying costs, ethics policies, audits, and tax information on the city government website. As a Chicago resident, I feel the pinch of big government every day- yearly parking fees, rising transit costs, bottled water taxes, the highest sales tax in the nation, etc etc etc… Maybe Cook County voters wouldn’t be considering an advisory referendum to add a recall provision if they were confident their money was being spent responsibly.
Look here for the Windy City transparency information I was able to find.
Double Duty for Rhode Island Open Books
30 September, 2008
I wrote about a new transparency site for Rhode Island last week, but neglected to mention the other groundbreaking site there- the Ocean State Policy Research Institute’s Transparency Train. This website works to publicly display budgets, payrolls, contracts and the monthly check registers for every city, town and school district in Rhode Island.
It looks like Rhode Island has twice the transparency now, which is outstanding. I can’t wait to see what’s uncovered with these two sites sniffing out waste and inefficiency.
Colorado: No Taxation Without Information!
29 September, 2008
Suppose you had a son, and you gave him fifty dollars to spend on whatever items he needed for the week. Suppose your son came back to you a day later, asking for more money. What would your first question be to him? My bet’s on: What did you buy with the first $50 I gave you?
Government should be monitored the same way. There should be spending transparency in all levels, so taxpayers can trust their money is being used wisely and efficiently. If the Colorado government uses tax dollars to support a bloated bureaucracy that doesn’t use competitive bidding practices and sets inappropriate priorities, then possibly it needs to have some internal reform before three ballot initiatives pass that will raise taxes. Does Colorado have a bloated bureaucracy? No one knows, nor will know, as long as there is no transparency.
The Independence Institute makes the same point in another op-ed, this time for the Denver Daily News. Read it here.
If the Colorado government cannot be trusted to explain to taxpayers how their money is currently being used, why would voters give it more cash?
Keep the drum-beat going: NO TAXATION WITHOUT INFORMATION!
Independence Institute: Colorado needs open government
25 September, 2008
Amy Oliver and Stephanie Kubala of the Colorado Independence Institute wrote a great op-ed discussing the need for transparency in Colorado’s government spending, especially as state taxes and fees have soared there in the last decade, nearly doubling the state budget since 2000.
And still, tax-eaters demand more. Oliver and Kubala cite three 2008 ballot measures that could raise taxes- Amendment 51, Amendment 58, and House Speaker Andrew Romanoff’s SAFE initiative.
Taxpayers should demand a complete accounting of every penny, and if officials are unable to do so, then maybe budgets are too big already.
Thanks to the Sam Adams Alliance, Colorado taxpayers have a new motto: No taxation without information!
Providing information is easy. Simply put government check registries online in a searchable database that includes contracts, grants and expenditures.
More than 20 states, including Kansas, Minnesota, Florida and New York already do this in some fashion.
According to the article, Colorado does have some leadership in the transparency movement, praising the Fort Collins city council, State Representative Don Marostica, the Colorado Press Association for their advocacy of opening the books.
Oliver and Kubala’s advice:
When some elected official or special interest group want to increase your taxes, you have a response: No taxation without information!
Tax dollars- down to the agency, person and penny
24 September, 2008
“We want to show Maine taxpayers — down to the agency, person and penny — where their dollars go. How can you get the most bang for the taxpayer’s buck?” Tarren Bragdon of the Maine Heritage Policy Center explained to the Bangor Daily News as the reason for launching a new website, MaineOpenGov.org.
The state of Maine paid more money in overtime than it did in salary in 2007 to a nurse at the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center in Bangor.
A civil engineer with the Maine Department of Transportation racked up $16,000 in mileage reimbursements.
And the state of Maine spent $80,980 on bottled water.
If you’ve ever wondered where your tax dollars are going, the brand new MaineOpenGov.org Web site is for you. The site offers searchable databases of public information, including the payrolls of state employees, University of Maine System employees and money spent on goods, services and entertainment.
I had the opportunity to sit through a sneak peek presentation of this site and its sister site, See Through New York, a few weeks ago at a conference in Phoenix, and am thrilled that I now get a chance to toy with the numbers myself.
Congratulations to the Maine Heritage Policy Center for a great tool in the battle against government waste.
Rhode Island Follows the Money Trail
24 September, 2008
The Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC) has released The Money Trail, a transparency website aimed at giving Rhode Islanders more information on how their government spends taxpayer dollars at multiple levels, as well as providing a platform for educated action. According to their website, The Money Trail works to track government budgets, actual expenditures, payroll, contracts, comprehensive plans, tax delinquencies, and foreclosures at the state, municipal and school district levels. You will also find report cards on government compliance with this transparency initiative, as well as the fiscal health of each government entity.
Seems like a giant step forward for a tiny state.
Nevada Transparency Sites
15 September, 2008
Sometimes when an idea is good once, it’s better twice- which is the case with Nevada’s new transparency websites.
The Nevada Policy Research Institute launched TransparentNevada.com this week, which includes searchable county and state financial data such as purchasing contracts, budgets, government employee salaries, lobbying expenses. The site also includes some departmental expenditures (education, transportation, and Health and Human Services), and a blog.
Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons hopped on the transparency bandwagon, forcing transparency by executive order last March. Nevada Open Government should be up and running soon, and will include searchable budgets, expenditures, contracts, and grants. If you go to the site now, you are greeted with links to miscellaneous financial data and reports.
These two websites will hopefully mean double trouble for the state’s tax-eaters and rent-seekers.
Sunshine Review in the News
2 September, 2008
The Advocate lauded the work of Sunshine Review on examining Louisiana parish websites.
After surveying parish government Web sites in Louisiana’s 64 parishes, the Sunshine Review discovered the following:
* Thirty-three parish Web sites inform residents about who the elected officials of the parish are; 25 parish Web sites do not. Six such Web sites give partial information.
* Only 15 parish Web sites post the parish budget.
* Only four parish Web sites tell residents how to file a public records request through Louisiana’s Public Records Law.
* Thirty parish Web sites inform residents about public meetings. Thirty-three do not, and one gives partial information.
* Only nine parish Web sites include information on building permits and zoning.
* Only two parish Web sites provide information on parish contracts.“Technology can be used to make government more transparent than ever,” said John Tsarpalis (sic), vice president of the alliance.
We agree, and we hope more parish governments do a better job of providing information on the Internet for the people they’re supposed to serve.
Post-Gustav, please go ahead and continue to do the work needed to open up government to LA taxpayers.
LA parish websites lack information
27 August, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 26, 2008
For more information:
Isabel Santa, (305) 431-8381
Tackling Parish Websites Can Enhance Transparency
A new website helps Louisianans know more about their parish websites
Chicago, IL – In an effort to ensure good government across the country, the Sam Adams Alliance launched Sunshine Review, a new, wiki-style website focused on evaluating the accessibility of government information and data on government websites. Recently, Sunshine Review users evaluated all 64 parish websites, finding a lack of transparency in over a third of them.
“Sunshine Review was created to make sure citizens nationwide have access to the information they need on government websites,” said John Tsarpalas, vice president of the Sam Adams Alliance.
According to a parish evaluation report on Sunshine Review, many Louisianans are in the dark on who is spending their tax dollars and where it is going. Currently, 25 parish websites don’t provide details about elected officials or their contact information, 33 don’t list meeting schedules or minutes, and 33 don’t post yearly budgets.
“Sunshine Review is performing a vital service to the citizens of Louisiana by identifying the shortcomings of local government websites,” said Kevin Kane, president of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. “How can we become informed voters without access to such basic information? These wiki-style websites will play an important role in the movement to reform state and local government and Sunshine Review is leading the way.”
Launched in July 2008, Sunshine Review wants citizens everywhere to easily be able to locate basic facts about local governments on city, county and school district websites. The “My Government Website Project” on Sunshine Review has already initiated ratings of local government websites in 10 states. The website evaluation project is part of Sunshine Review’s No Taxation Without Information campaign.
“Technology should be used to make government more transparent than ever. We need to break this informational iron curtain between government and the people,” Tsarpalas said.
During the legislature’s ethics special session earlier in the year, Governor Jindal passed legislation that would increase transparency by creating a searchable database of state spending online.
About Sunshine Review
Sunshine Review is a Wikipedia-like website that enables people to find and share information about whether state and local governments are effective, easy to reach, open, honest and responsible with taxpayer money. Sunshine Review is a project of the Sam Adams Alliance, a national non-profit organization that strives to educate and inform citizens about political issues through new media tools.
For more information about Sunshine Review or to request an interview, please contact Isabel Santa at (305) 431-8381 or izzy@samadamsalliance.org
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