Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

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Contents

Milwaukee County is one of 72 counties in Wisconsin. The county seat is Milwaukee. [1]

[edit] Website evaluation

Main article: Evaluation of Wisconsin county websites

[edit] The good

  • Budget information is listed. [2]
  • Meeting information is available. [3]
  • County elected officials and contact information are posted. [4]
  • Has county administrative officials listed. [5]
  • Building permits and a contact for questions are posted. [6]
  • Audit information is listed. [7]


[edit] The bad

  • Has a list of registered lobbying groups, but no other lobbying information. [8]
  • Has some tax information, but no online payment option or breakdown of taxes. [9]
  • There is no information on contracts.
  • There is no information on how to file public records requests.

[edit] Lobbying

In 2008, Milwaukee County reported $40,000 spent on lobbying. [10]


[edit] Public Records

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council performed an audit of compliance with the Wisconsin Open Records Law in 2008. 3 in 10 of the requests submitted were found to be ignored or responded to in violation of state law.

Milwaukee County provided requested records promptly and without incident. [11]

See audit finds nearly 10% of open records requests denied or ignored for more.

[edit] County accountability

County Executive Scott Walker launched the public accountability “Milwaukee County Accountability Portal (MCAP)” website. The MCAP site provides information about county division purchases and program disbursements and offers data on Milwaukee County government spending.

“New technology allows us to post information for greater transparency in government spending,” said Walker. “We welcome the potential for increased participation from vendors in our community and encourage the public to view where money is spent in county government.”

The site allows the user to search and view payment totals by county division for each fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2009, to search and view payment totals by category of goods, services, or program disbursements for each fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2009, to drill down to detailed information about the payments, and to conduct basic or advanced searches for vendors and other recipients of county funds by name based on as much or as little information as you have available.[12]

[edit] News coverage

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covers Milwaukee County government news.[13]

[edit] External links

[edit] References