Spotlight.vermont.gov, which includes searchable databases and budget spreadsheets, gives consumers easy to understand information about how the state spends money, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
This year a national consumer group gave Vermont an A- for its effort to improve online “checkbook” level information about the state’s finances. The nonprofit group has released an annual report card on financial transparency for each state since 2010. Eight states, including Vermont, were given an A- this year.
Four years ago, Vermont got an “F” for financial transparency from USPIRG. The state launched http://spotlight.vermont.gov in 2012 to improve citizen access to information about the state’s budget, auditor’s reports, monthly revenue reports, grants and tax breaks for companies. The site also includes a searchable database of expenditures, vendors and employee salaries.
Paul Burns, executive director of VPIRG, said no other state — including states with much greater resources — got a better score. (Burns said the organization is not grading on a curve.) Despite Vermont’s small size and proportionately fewer resources, the state did just as well as big states like Texas, Michigan, Iowa and Indiana, according to data from USPIRG.
“We need to be able to scrutinize agencies in the same way we scrutinize our own checkbooks,” Burns said at the governor’s press conference on Wednesday. “Checkbook level transparency is the standard.”
Gov. Peter Shumlin touted the good news: “I’m incredibly proud of my team which has turned the corner for transparency. We’re letting hardworking taxpayers know how we’re spending their money in the state of Vermont.”
Sue Zeller, the state’s new chief performance officer, has led the spotlight.vermont.gov project. Zeller says the website is updated as soon as new reports are available. Charts for state revenues, for example, are posted the same day.
Zeller hopes to increase the transparency of quasi governmental entities like the Vermont Economic Development Agency, the University of Vermont, the Vermont Law School and the Vermont Economic Progress Council so that the state can get a better understanding of efficiencies that could be realized.
The governor’s promotion of the state’s finance website led to questions about transparency in other areas of state government, namely Shumlin’s long-awaited plans to fund a single-payer health care system. Reporters asked how the governor could advocate for state spending transparency at the same time he has blocked all queries about the financing system for health care. The governor demurred and said he isn’t ready to give lawmakers and the public access to proposals that have been discussed with his staff.
“The Legislature is asking us for something we don’t have yet,” Shumlin said. “Transparency is about showing what you have, not showing what you don’t have.”
The USPIRG report says the following states have the most comprehensive transparency websites: Indiana, Florida, Oregon, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, Iowa, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Read the report: “Following the Money 2014: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data”
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