Louisville launches spending transparency site
From Sunshine Review
September 10, 2009 The City of Louisville, Kentucky launched a spending transparency site that allows residents to watch every dollar of their tax money at work.[1]
[edit] Louisville spending watch
At this time, the financial information on the site only goes through June 30, the end of the last full city fiscal year. The city will update the information only at the end of each new fiscal year.
By an ordinance passed by the Louisville Metro Council last spring, the website was required to be set up by September 30, 2009.
The city spent about $5,000 to set up the website. Steve Haag, spokesman for the Republican council minority caucus, said the city put the website in the advisory hands of the metro information technology staff.
The money came from the discretionary accounts of council members Ken Fleming, R-7th District, and Hal Heiner, R-19th, the primary sponsors of the ordinance.
Mayor Jerry Abramson's spokesperson, Chad Carlton, criticized the creation of the site on Wednesday. The site was initially proposed and paid for by Republican council members.
He said the administration is developing a separate site that will be linked through the city's official website, to be ready by November. He says the November site will provide financial information to be updated and downloaded automatically at the end of every month.
"We are perplexed why the council is spending funds for a separate website," Carlton said. “We are a little bit surprised and disappointed”
Carlton said the administration believes it can set up the upcoming site for free.
Fleming said the website is not redundant. He said this site's intent is to give the public a look at financial documents from a historical perspective. The administration’s site will be current.
“They are different things,” Fleming said of the two sites.
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