Arlington County, Virginia

From Sunshine Review

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Budget Meetings Elected Officials Administrative Officials Permits, zoning Audits Contracts Lobbying Public records Local taxes

[edit] Website evaluation

Main article: Evaluation of Virginia county websites

[edit] The good

• Contact information for elected county officials^[2] and county administration^[3] are available.

• County board meeting dates, agendas and minutes for current and previous years are posted. Video recordings of the meetings are also available.^[4]

• Detailed budgets,^[5] audits and comprehensive annual financial reports^[6] for current and previous years are available.

• Current bid requests^[7] and information about awarded contracts^[8] are posted.

• There is detailed information about county taxes,^[9] and the option to pay them online.^[10]

• The status of building plan reviews and permits can be checked online.^[11]

[edit] The bad

• There appears to be no information about any arrangements with lobbying associations the county may have. However, the Virginia Association of Counties lists the county as a member.^[12]

• Information about how to make FOIA requests is available,^[13] but there appears to be no record of the county's FOIA compliance.

[edit] Lobbying

Main article:Virginia taxpayer-funded lobbying

Arlington County has reported $220,000 spent lobbying between 2001 and 2005 (see table).

[edit] Arlington Police Department

According to an investigation by Connections Newspaper reporter Michael Pope, the police departments of Fairfax County, Alexandria, and Arlington are among the most secretive and non-transparent in the country. According to the reports, the departments' interpretation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in effect allows them reject nearly all information requests. ^{[15] [16]}

[edit] External links

Arlington County

• Arlington County Website
• Arlington Chamber of Commerce
• Arlington Economic Development Department
• Arlington Public Schools
• Arlington County on e-Reference
• Arlington County on US Census

[edit] References

	v • d • e State of Virginia Richmond (capital)
Transparency	Freedom of Information Act | Transparency Checklist | Government corruption reports | Transparency Legislation | Open Records procedures | Transparency Advocates | Transparency blogs | State budget | Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations |
Divisions	State | List of Counties | List of Cities | List of Towns | List of School Districts | Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of township websites | Evaluation of school district websites |
Government	Virginia State Constitution | Executive | House of Representatives | Senate |
Judiciary	Virginia Supreme Court | Court of Appeals | Circuit Court | Judicial nomination process | Judicial news | Judicial activist organizations |
Ballot Measures	Ballot measures | Amending the constitution | History of direct democracy | Campaign finance requirements |