Open Illinois.org

Thanks to our Liberty Leaders in Urbana–including, as always, Dianna Visek–there will be a vote in the city council this evening to decide whether to codify transparency and make it official policy. 

The News-Gazette reports on the Urbana transparency vote:

A resolution stating the city’s intention to post a number of budget and finance documents on the Internet is coming up for a vote Monday night, and it’s likely to be close…

Documents the resolution calls for posting include the annual budget; the “detailed trial,” which lists the date, amount and description of every payment of city funds except where the disclosure is prohibited by law; the comprehensive annual financial report; the annual treasurer’s report, which lists the total amount of funds paid to each vendor in excess of $2,500 and a listing of all city wages paid the previous year; the budget forecast, which shows a comparison of actual spending against budgeted line items; and a copy of all contracts entered into by the city.

If you’re in or around Urbana, make your voice heard on this important vote. If the council approves the measure, Urbana will push Champaign County that much higher in the rankings of the most transparent counties in Illinois. Kara wrote a couple of weeks ago how Champaign Co. was found to be better than most Illinois counties in terms of transparency.