Alabama Counties Receive Failing Grades After Transparency Evaluations
For Immediate Release
Alabama Counties Receive Failing Grades After Transparency Evaluations
Only twelve of sixty-seven counties receive passing marks
Chicago, September 3 — Alabama Counties overwhelmingly received failing grades when it comes to transparency, according to Sunshine Review (http://www.sunshinereview.org/). A project of the Sam Adams Alliance, the government transparency website has released transparency grades for all county websites in Alabama. Each county was evaluated against a ten-point transparency checklist and issued a grade to determine how open and honest they are with the public they serve. The checklist requires that information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes be made easily accessible online.
According to the Sunshine Review findings, Alabama’s most transparent county is Baldwin, which earned a C-minus and met only six points on the checklist. Sunshine Review also uncovered that twenty-eight counties in Alabama do not have a website, resulting in the total number of counties receiving an “F” to fifty-five.
“The Sunshine Review community believes every county in the nation has a responsibility to make basic information easily available to the taxpayer,” said Kristin McMurray, managing editor of Sunshine Review. “We urge Alabama residents to use the results of these evaluations to push for reform in their counties.”
During the evaluation process Sunshine Review learned that simple information like budgets was only posted on three county websites, and meeting schedules could only be found on eight. Only sixteen counties made tax information accessible online.
“Citizens deserve to know what their government is doing and how their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent,” McMurray said. “We hope county officials will welcome our findings and begin taking the necessary steps to achieve greater open and honest government by meeting all ten points on the transparency checklist.”
Go to the Sunshine Review Evaluation of Alabama county websites page to see how open and honest your county government is being with you.
Contacts:
Kristin McMurray, Managing Editor
Sunshine Review
312-920-0080 ext. 311
kmcmurray@samadamsalliance.org
Sunshine Review is a wiki website that collects and shares information about transparency, government spending, political corruption, taxpayer-funded lobbying and open records laws. It provides a way for citizens to keep tabs on their government, hold it accountable, and reform wasteful, fraudulent, and corrupt behavior uncovered by measures of transparency.
