Update on Sunshine
Unfortunately, Illinois took two steps back in the transparency movement last week during veto session. The first occurred in a move to deny Illinois citizens the right to ask for government employee performance evaluations through a Freedom of Information (FOIA) …
Sunshine Standard
All interested in government transparency, check out this new site, sunshinestandard.org, created by Sunshine Review.
The website aims to provide citizens and elected officials with model legislation and tools to launch reforms and expand the amount of information available …
School Vendor Data Available on IllinoisOpenGov!
What is your school district spending money on?
Check out some new spending data available on our spending transparency website, IllinoisOpenGov.org.
We have included school vendor information for you to check out! We’ll also be updating current information …
Check Out a New Paper on TIF Transparency!
Although tax increment financing (TIF) has been around for over thirty years, many people do not understand how it works, how it affects their communities or their pocketbooks. Most people have no idea a significant portion of their property taxes …
Institute in The News: District 86 Receives an “F” for Fiscal Transparency
The Illinois Policy Institute announced last night that School District 86 has received a failing grade when it comes to fiscal transparency. The poor marks come on the heels of a recent audit conducted by the Institute’s Local Transparency Project.
Daley Proposes Dipping into TIF Reserves to Balance Budget
Mayor Daley went forward with his plans to use TIF reserves in order to “balance” his proposed FY2011 budget, leaving it to his future replacement to tackle the inherent problems that led the city into a deficit in …
Rahm on TIF
Not many people understand tax increment financing (TIF) very well, and the lack of transparency in the TIF process, particularly in Chicago, leaves many taxpayers unaware of exactly where TIF developments are located, how many tax dollars are going …
What About That $162 Million?
Although Recovery.gov promised transparency on how the government spends every dollar of stimulus money, USA Today reports “there’s $162 million the website doesn’t disclose,” finding:
Recipients of 352 federal stimulus contracts, grants and loans have failed to report how
…
Taxpayer-funded Lobbying
Do you know how much you’re paying for lobbyists?
Sunshine Review has released a paper about taxpayer-funded lobbying in Illinois, reporting information about lobbying contracts and membership in taxpayer-funded lobbying associations. Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations are groups funded at least …
Stimulus Working for You?
Section 1604 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (AARA) specifically prohibits funds from flowing to certain entertainment and recreation projects.
Does a casino, aquarium, zoo, golf course, or swimming pool sound like recreation or entertainment to you?…
