Missouri state budget
From Sunshine Review
Missouri Accountability Portal is the name of the publicly available website created by the Missouri government. It discloses information about the Missouri government's spending, and includes data on state employee salaries, agency expenditures, and tax credit information. The Missouri Accountability Portal was created at the Executive Order of Governor Matt Blunt in July 2007.
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News
The National Taxpayers Union pulled expenditure information from the Missouri Accountability Portal (MAP) and issued a press release in August 2008 detailing the discovery of more than $2.4 million of taxpayer money spent for questionable purposes over the past eight years, including purchases made at bakeries, beauty salons, bra stores, coffee shops, and picture-framing galleries, among others.
The state of Missouri spent $15,482.57 at Ann's Bra Shop from 2000 to 2008 for "professional services" and "clothing supplies." Over the same period, government employees spent more than $1.6 million at coffee shops, $387,210.14 at framing stores, $278,053.46 at florists and nurseries, and $70,849.02 at donut bakeries.
Other dubious expenditures found by NTU include $936.75 spent at The Corsage Shop, $232.00 at Doris' Beauty Shop, $1,651.27 at The Jean Shop, $348.70 at the Budget Rose Shop, $6,964.55 at Susie's Bake Shoppe, and $3,803.00 at the Westside Barber Shop. In 2000, $12.00 was spent at Ann's Hair & Nail Shop for "other professional services."
Governor Blunt responded by asking the state’s Office of Administration to review the expenditures, which found that the Ann's Bra Shop purchases were legitimate Department of Corrections expenses for special-needs products for female inmates in Missouri’s prison system. Said Governor Blunt in a statement, "This is exactly what we expected and envisioned when we created the MAP site. Transparency and openness help root out wasteful spending and we welcome this scrutiny.”[1]
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Legislation
Government tools
Missouri Accountability Portal provides a database of state financial information, which is searchable by criteria such as expenditures, vendors, contracts, and employee names. The following table is helpful in evaluating the level of transparency provided by Missouri Accountability Portal:
| State Database | Searchability | Grants | Contracts | Line Item Expenditures | Dept/Agency Budgets | Public Employee Salary | Exemption Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri Accountability Portal |  | | | | | | no exemption level |
Limitations and Suggestions for Improvements
National Taxpayers Union noted that "Unfortunately, MAP only goes so far in telling you what was actually behind the expenditures. Often, the spending record data will dead-end at 'professional services,' 'supplies,' or 'non-contract purchases.' While it's possible that some of these purchases are fairly innocuous, the name of the vendor alone gives reason for taxpayers to at least question the expense. The next step for MAP should be posting line-item information from purchase receipts on the spending portal. Taxpayers need to see exactly how those funds were spent."[2]
Support for creation of the database
This website was created by an executive order from Governor Matt Blunt.
Independent transparency sites
None.
Public employee salary information
The Missouri Accountability Portal provides information about state employees pay. Users can view pay information about the employees of the State of Missouri by their Agency of employment, Position Title or Employee Name. The provides gross pay amounts by the last pay cycle and year to date.
The Better Government Association offers this database of selected public payrolls. It mostly covers Illinois, but there is also some salary information on Missouri and Indiana.
External Links
- Show-Me Institute
- Americans for Prosperity, Missouri
- Missouri Accountability Portal, official website
- Office of Administration, Missouri government
- Missouri state budget, fiscal year 2009
- Missouri government spending
References
- ↑ Group: $2M of Mo. taxpayer money spent on ‘questionable purposes’ August 29, 2008
- ↑ Missouri Tax Dollars Spent at Beauty Salons, Bra Shops, and Donut Bakeries, Review Finds August 29, 2008
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