Colorado Spending Transparency

As bad as the economy is, Colorado taxpayers have one reason to celebrate.  In his state of the state speech, Governor Ritter endorsed transparency.  A few minutes into his speech he stated:  “And we’re making government more modern and transparent by putting more services online - and soon, working with Treasurer Kennedy’s Office and Representative Marostica, we’ll have the state’s checkbook online. ”

According to Face the State, “Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer confirmed…the Governor will introduce a plan for transparency by making the state budget available online.”   In addition the Governor’s office has been working with State Representative Don Marostica and Senator Mike Kopp to get Colorado’s checkbook online.

Spend a few minutes savoring the victory but then back to work.

As always the devil is in the details.  There are lots of questions yet to be answered.  Will it be an executive order or will it happen legislatively?  Will the online checkbook be searchable?  What will be the format?  Will contracts be included? Revenues? Expenditures? We look forward to getting answers and as always will keep you posted on the developments.

Also, at COST we will continue to advocate for transparency at all levels of government including school districts and municipalities.  Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is spent.

Remember: No taxation without information!