In the past I have written about transparency efforts in state governments across the country (click here for my most recent). An ever-watchful public eye on government finance promotes public confidence, fiscal responsibility, and reduces the likelihood of waste, fraud, and abuse.
Yet, this one really hits close to home. It seems local officials in Alexandria, VA - headquarters of yours truly, the National Taxpayers Union - have begun to embrace more openness in government. Recently, the city government has taken steps to shed more light on its spending by placing a recent OMB report on city contract expenditures online for public viewing.
Overall, the city spent $45.1 million on contractual services in all operating funds in FY 2010. They include legal, accounting, and medical services, temporary employees, consulting, certain construction projects, landscaping, and computer support. For instance, during the infamous Snowpocalypse of 2010, Alexandria spent $3.8 million, or 8.5 percent of total contract expenditures, on services like snow plowing, tree removal and “after-action emergency planning.”
This increased transparency encourages government streamlining efforts. Rather than continuously raising taxes (at the determinant of the local economy), local elected officials can use this information to identify areas of duplication and waste in local budgets. For example, the local Alexandria Times highlights city Councilmen Frank Fannon. He points to the roughly $75,000 the city spent on a first-time homebuyer advisor. This is already a service available to the public in the private sector – there is no need to use municipal dollars for it. Uncovering duplicative spending like this can serve as a strong taxpayer protection, providing alternative solutions to local budget shortfalls.
However, while a good transparency stepping stone for Alexandria taxpayers much work is needed in the areas of format and usability. I found it very hard to actually find the document on the city’s website. It took speaking with three separate government officials (each having no idea the document even existed) and call to the local newspaper to actually locate the document. Once opened, searching for specific information was time-consuming as the document is only available in a non-searchable, PDF format.
Also, most importantly, the city does not provide contract spending on capital projects - those long-term investment projects that require large sums of money to acquire, develop, improve, and/or maintain (such as land, buildings, bridges, roads, etc.).
If city officials are as truly dedicated to transparency as they claim, more is definitely needed. Officials can look to two notable examples out of Missouri and Kansas. Gathering all information directly from official government sources, both sites provide state financial data including employee salaries, property tax liabilities per county, school spending data, and much more in searchable formats. Alexandria’s elected officials should be looking to mirror these sites to increase their accountability to constituents.