Web tool allows anyone to track government spending

Transparency may be a government priority but it often seems centered on federal programs; do you ever wonder where your local tax dollars go?

Now with the help of a website launched last week called Govistics, users can track their state and local government expenditures, literally taking transparency to a new level.

The Dorobek Insider spoke with Joseph Stefko, the site’s designer, about the need for the database.

Stefko says there is no comprehensive presentation of or access to state and local spending information and Govistics, “offers a knowledge base for informing the public and engaging them in these critical conversations. State and local governmental spending represents the lion’s share of the average taxpayer’s money.”

Govistics, a product of the Center for Governmental Research (CGR), grew out of the firm’s consulting work. CGR advises state and local governments on management and economic analysis, but found municipalities struggling to manage economic information they couldn’t measure.

In response, the company developed Govistics, a database built on 2010 Census information that contains expenditure accounts for over 39,000 state, county and local governments.

For each demographic area, the data is organized into eight high levels such as public safety, social services and administration.

The information is further broken down into over 35 detailed subcategories such as police or firefighting forces, debt service, or clerks.

Not all the data is free, however. Users can get a free one-day subscription that gives them access to aggregated spending data for every state and almost all counties. Monthly and annual subscriptions are required to gain access to increasingly more detailed information.

According to Stefko, GCR expects to add public school data, more visual representations of the information and performance measurements in the coming months.

He says government officials requested the performance metrics, pointing out that it is just as important for taxpayers to know how effective their dollars are as where those dollars are being spent.

Stefko says taxpayers, business communities and governments can benefit from the data because Govistics allows users to compare peer communities across the country.

“Obviously there has been a big focus on how do we do government more cost effectively and how do we compare? How can we enhance our regions’ and states’ economic competitiveness vis-a-vis our peers?” he says.

Stefko says that while CGR doesn’t expect Govistics to answer these questions, “we think it represents an effective way of targeting conversations, especially efficiency conversations.”

Meg Beasley is an intern for Federal News Radio.

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