Nevada News Bureau says state transparency site needs improvement
From Sunshine Review
October 24, 2009 The Nevada state transparency site, Nevada Open Government was launched after the Nevada Open Government Initiative passed in March 2008, but the site still needs improvement, according to the Nevada News Bureau.[1]
[edit] Transparency
Eighteen months have passed since Gov. Jim Gibbons issued an executive order requiring the state’s financial information to be posted on an easily searchable website for the public.
Nevada’s transparency website has been up and accessible since January. However, the only content available so far is budget and spending information for fiscal years 2006 to 2008. It now includes the 2009-11 legislatively approved budget.
As of early November 2009, the website have a searchable database and taxpayers can delve into detail showing actual payments to vendors, State Budget Director Andrew Clinger said said. Citizens can search by vendor name or by agency.
However, financial data is still being loaded into the system for fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, as well as for the current 2010 budget year. The site is supposed to have the current budget and spending information by the end of October. The information will supposedly be updated nightly, Clinger said. After it reaches this step in development, Clinger said Nevada’s site will be about 70 percent complete. It will be missing data on contracts between state agencies and other entities as well as details of the state payroll is also a work in progress.[1]
[edit] Next step
State Controller Kim Wallin is providing the financial data to the Department of Administration for posting on the website. Wallin proposed creating a transparency website through her office, modeling the site created after Missouri's, for about $250,000. Missouri uses the same financial accounting software as Nevada, making it an ideal model candidate.
The Gibbons administration moved forward on its own idea and has spent about $112,000 on the project thus far.
Clinger said the first step of the project is to get the budget and spending information current and available to the public. Next, the agency plans to move on to the issue of posting contract information, but the timing depends on the availability of funding, he said. It will cost about $63,000 to implement.
“We’re trying to find a way to use the resources we have in the current biennium to fund that piece,” Clinger said. “It is one of my top priorities.”
The general public does not have easy access to information about the contracts the state enters into with other agencies and private firms. The Board of Examiners approved more than 80 contracts worth millions of dollars in October 2009. This process occurs every several weeks.
“The governor’s budget and the legislative budget are there. And on the spending side, you can actually see payments down to vendors. We’ve got the top 500 vendors in terms of payments. You can do a search by agency. There is a lot of information.”
Clinger said the website will also be the place to look for information about federal stimulus funds coming into Nevada.[1]
[edit] External links
- Nevada Open Government website
- Nevada News Bureau website
- Nevada government website
- http://budget.state.nv.us/ Nevada Budget and Planning Office website]
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Nevada’s Transparency Website Improved But Still Incomplete," Nevada News Bureau, October 24, 2009
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