Open Illinois.org

Over the past few years, transparency legislation has swept the nation as a low-cost, bipartisan approach to better government. At all levels of government, spending can be a foggy business. A little sunlight, however, could burn off that fog and bring some clarity into government’s budget process. The Illinois Accountability Portal, signed by Governor Quinn on August 17, 2009, provides a good start to shining more sunlight into state government spending. However, all levels of government need sunlight, from school districts, to city councils, village boards, and county boards. Any body operating off tax dollars needs transparency.

To most people, “transparency” implies openness and clarity. Unfortunately, for most people, “government” usually generates thoughts of something closed off, hard to understand, and sometimes untrustworthy. As a first step to cleaning up government, restoring faith in elected officials, and showing families and taxpayers how the government uses their tax dollars, transparency sheds light on a characteristically opaque budget process.

Nearly everyone would agree taxpayers deserve to know how government spends their money. Transparency gives them that chance. Serving as a sort of x-ray machine, transparency allows people to look into the details of the budget books and understand where their tax dollars go – and to whom.

ILLINOIS, TAKE ACTION

All levels of government in Illinois need to implement a full, comprehensive transparency program, requiring all units of government receiving state funds open up their books in one easy-access website. It would include all expenditures, including contracts and grants, and will provide ready access to the details supporting such payments, their purpose and who authorized the payment. Moreover, the information in the website should be presented in a manner that is searchable and intuitive to users.