While we are working hard to educate Colorado about the need for state and local governments to post their spending online where taxpayers can see it, some governments still are in need of even more basic transparency.

The number of special districts in Colorado has grown rapidly in recent years: there are now more than 1,300 of these metro districts, water districts, fire districts, park districts, hospital districts, and on and on…. Colorado prides itself on local control, but these local government bodies collect and spend lots of taxpayer money with very little accountability.

Don’t take my word for it. The State Auditor filed a huge report (PDF) highlighting the serious lack of oversight in these districts.

Kudos therefore is in order to Senator Morgan Carroll for sponsoring SB 09-87 (PDF) to begin addressing the problem. The legislation ensures very basic transparency from these special districts, things like:

• Creating a basic website so citizens know how to contact and petition their tax-funded government offices
• Disclosing to homeowners when they buy a home which special districts they live in and pay taxes to
• Sending out annual notices of when and where meetings and elections are held

Sometimes transparency includes getting governments up to speed on very basic obligations to the people who pay their bills. Public accountability took a step forward yesterday as a senate committee unanimously approved SB 09-87.

A small dose of refreshing common sense coming from the State Capitol, bringing government activities further into the light of day. Brilliant!