Transparency: All the cool cities, states are doing it

I’ve been a little delinquent in showcasing some of the newly launched transparency websites and projects. Here are a few that caught my attention:

In Salt Lake City, Utah, Mayor Ralph Becker just announced the “Greater Transparency for a Collaborative Government Initiative” that they hope will allow greater input and collaboration between the city and its residents. Officials offered a 30-point work plan and are soliciting advice from the public via this website: transparencyslcgov.com

Open Georgia launched recently, and includes a searchable database of expenditures, including salary and travel, professional services, financial reports, and program reviews.

Washington state released their Washington State Fiscal Information site early last month. Citizens can find state expenditures by fund or account; expenditures by agency, program, and subprogram; state revenues by source; state expenditures by budget object and subobject; and state agency workloads, caseloads, and performance measurements. The Washington Policy Center has asked the state to continue to build on its momentum by establishing a “Taxation Disclosure Act” that would allow citizens to better view how their tax dollars are used and raised, including tax rates and burdens.

I’ll add more as I find them.

Georgia state transparency website

Georgia’s Secretary of State, Karen Handel, announced the launch of the Transparency in Government Initiative website this week. Although it currently only hosts the Georgia Secretary of State’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget, Secretary Handel’s campaign and personal finance disclosures, and the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office Ethics Policy, Secretary Handel promises to include expenditures very soon. Let’s hope they will be in a searchable database format.

Read more about the site at ShowMeTheSpending.org, Atlanta Business Chronicle, and Americans for Tax Reform.

Sunshine Troublemaker of the Week #25

Open Records brings us another edition of the Sunshine Troublemaker of the Week.

Augusta, Georgia’s purchasing department needs a little sunshine, and Robert Mullins wants to be the guy to open the blinds. The problem? He’s not receiving his FOIA’ed information as soon as required by law. In fact, Mullins had to sue the city and Geri Sams, the Augusta Procurement Officer, in order to have a chance at ever seeing the information he requested.

Apparently, he’s not the only one with difficulty getting access to public records- the Augusta Chronical joined the lawsuit. The Chronical had this to say.

Congratulations, Robert Mullins, on your award. When you finally receive that information you requested, please, let us know if you discover the reason Ms. Sams refused to just follow the law.