Portal:Show Me The Spending

National Taxpayers Union
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[edit] Featured article: Tracking the Stimulus? Good Luck

Nearly five months after President Obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, which includes a promise to maintain “a user-friendly, public-facing website to foster greater accountability and transparency in the use of covered funds,” ^[1] serious concerns continue to be raised about the ability of the government to accurately track where stimulus money is being spent.

Launched in February, 2009, Recovery.gov, the federal government’s official stimulus package transparency site, promises to regularly update agencies’ funding notifications and financial activity, illustrate estimates of jobs to be created by stimulus-funded projects, and allow individuals to report incidences of fraud and abuse ^[2]. However, administration officials acknowledged as early as May 2009 that Recovery.gov would not have details on contracts and grants until October and may not be complete until next spring- halfway through the program^[3]. Then in July, the government announced that it will be spending $18 million to revamp the site and continue its operation for the next five years,^[4] causing an uproar among fiscal conservatives who oppose the use of stimulus funds to correct for what they see as wasteful government mismanagement.

In response to the inefficiency of Recovery.gov, many private firms have launched their own stimulus tracking sites, including Recovery.org, established and maintained by Onvia. Mike Pickett, the CEO of Onvia, recently talked with Reason.tv about the advantages of a privately-run transparency site, the necessity of tracking stimulus money, and the dangers of time delays in the release of spending information. Listen to his full interview here.

v • d • e State Budgets Cost of state transparency websites • State budget issues, 2009-2010 • Pubic employee salaries • States with spending online Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming •

National Taxpayers Union
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Accountability Happens when Spending is Exposed

Education Commission Dwight Jones spent taxpayers’ money for personal use amid the Colorado budget crisis. He will reimburse the state for 2.5 years of personal phone calls made on his state cellphone following media inquiries into his expenses. The payback, which totaled nearly half of the sum billed to Jones' cellphone since he took the job, came after reports of pricey meals and new office furniture were billed to Jones’ expense account despite state budget cuts. The 103 Department of Education employees who use a state phone are required to reimburse the state each month for anything beyond the occasional, short personal call. Yet in a dozen cases, half or nearly half of Jones’ monthly bills were made up of personal phone calls. Records also show that Jones used state money to buy two $500 BlackBerry cellphones.

Jones’ spending only came into question in mid-September when local television stations reported expensive meals and purchases of thousands of dollars in office furniture and televisions on Jones’ tab (read your tab). While Jones, who makes $223,000 a year, vowed to pay closer attention to spending in his department, I find this appalling that taxpayers don’t have access to see this and other such abuses of their taxpayer funds. When we’re footing the bill for state employees' expenses, we should have the right to see what we’re paying for and why. It’s time to stop state employees from helping themselves to taxpayers’ wallets and urge for a more transparent government!

Illinois School District Salaries to be Posted Online

Thanks to the folks at the Illinois Policy Institute for giving us the heads up on the latest transparency updates in Illinois. Looks like taxpayers in the state may start seeing more transparency, at least from school districts. Two important pieces of legislation must be highlighted. SB 2270 requires every school district to post compensation for every employee who holds an administrative certificate and who works in that capacity. It should include base salary, bonuses, pension contributions, health insurance and any other compensation. HB 2235 requires every school board to report the base salary and benefits of the school superintendent, all administrators and teachers. Lawmakers in Illinois are making strides toward spending transparency but they could take it a step further and post all expenditures online- not just salaries. As always, it is important for taxpayers to make sure that efforts like these are enforced and that state employees are complying with the new transparency legislation.

Montana Tracks Taxpayers’ Money

The folks at Montanans in Action have launched a project that records how legislators are trying to spend taxpayers’ money. The site, Legistats, tracks each vote legislators cast and grades them accordingly. This site allows taxpayers to view in detail how his/her representative votes and it breaks it down by category of spending and ranks each member. It is a great way to bring accountability to government. Montanans are increasingly becoming more vocal as they see how often their representative votes to spend their tax dollars. Taxpayers in other states should consider making similar efforts to hold their lawmakers accountable.

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v • d • e State Budgets Cost of state transparency websites • State budget issues, 2009-2010 • Pubic employee salaries • States with spending online Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming •

National Taxpayers Union
Transparency in your state Public employee salary States with spending online Collaborative transparency projects Model transparency legislation #statebooks on Twitter SMTS on Twitter
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Sign up for e-updates Take action

First, try your hand at this month's collaborative transparency project. You can get involved with the Show Me the Spending project on Sunshine Review by editing (adding or improving information) on any page in the state spending online category. Also help build NTU's section of articles about the states that have put their spending online.

[edit] State salary project

State Government Salary Project Goals:

1. To develop each state's Government benefits "state government salary" page into a "one-stop shop" for learning about state government employees' compensation,
2. To increase the number of links in Sunshine Review leading to each state's "state government salary" page, and
3. To increase the number of links on the World Wide Web that lead to each state's "state government salary" page.

Currently we're working to post the top 10 paid government employees in each state. Check out the State government salary project for more information on how to do so.

[edit] Other ways to become involved

• Join Coalition to ensure that state and local governments post their expenditures online.
• Check out Independent transparency sites.
• Ask your Elected Officials to sponsor this Model legislation for transparency in state government spending.
• How to respond when individuals or governments oppose transparency.

v • d • e State Budgets Cost of state transparency websites • State budget issues, 2009-2010 • Pubic employee salaries • States with spending online Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming •