Open Illinois.org

“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” –James Madison

The Illinois Policy Institute and our network of over 1,000 volunteer Liberty Leaders are working to conduct Local Government Transparency audits of hundreds, and soon thousands, of Illinois’ over 6,000 government taxing bodies and working with government administrators to make Illinois more transparent.

With every check posted, employee salary noted, and every government contract disclosed, transparency becomes an opportunity for citizen watchdogs to highlight government excesses, prevent corruption, and improve the democratic system.

For democracy to work citizens need access to the information about what government does. Proactive transparency is the best way to educate society about the actions of government. Over the last decade State & Federal governments have begun the trend towards more transparency. Now county governments, local municipalities, and even school districts have beginning to hear citizen demands to open up their financial books to public scrutiny.

The Illinois Policy Institute has developed a 10-Point Transparency Checklist to hold government & elected officials accountable to the citizens and taxpayers and provide a “best practices” framework to improve government transparency all across Illinois.

Every level of government (local, county, state) in Illinois should strive to achieve the goals of this ten-point checklist.

Ten-Point Transparency Checklist

1. Elected & Administrative Officials: Contact Information
2. Meeting Information: Calendar (Future) Minutes & Board Packets (Past)
3. Public records: FOIA submission & FOIA Officer Contact Information
4. Budgets: General Fund and Special Projects
5. Financial Audits: Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports
6. Expenditures: Checkbook Register and Credit Card Receipts
7. Salary & Benefits: Wages, Salary, Overtime, Health, Dental, Life, Pension, etc.
8. Contracts: Union, Private Contractors, Vendors
9. Lobbying: Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Associations
10. Taxes & Fees: Sales, Property, Income, and Miscellaneous Taxes, Fees.

Details of each item on the checklist

Contact Brian Costin, Director of Outreach, at bcostin@illinoispolicy.org if you would like to make local government (municipalities, school districts, libraries, townships, park districts, etc.) in your area more transparent.