By Jeff Moore

Sometimes government documents are hard to get to. Even with political subdivisions that cooperate with citizens it is often cumbersome and time consuming to get your hands on operational documents.

You will find weekly meeting agenda items and vendor check runs on the city and school district websites. However it would be a great service to the tax payers to take accessibility to the next level. It might even lighten the workload here at Liberty Forward!

We would like to see both the City of Liberty and the Liberty School district adopt a philosophy similar to that of the state and create a web database of documents for the citizens to review and watch over.

It would service the citizens well if they could work together to use 1 platform. If cost is an issue Liberty Forward would be willing to help fund and maintain a central site that both organizations could simply upload their documents to.

Keeping the check runs and the meeting agenda documents accessible beyond the week of the meetings would be a great start!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         

Tuesday, September 2, 2008                                                               

(573) 751-2982

Gov. Blunt’s Accountability

Internet Site Tops 11 Million

Hits

Fiscal Watchdogs Receive Answer on State’s

Expenses to Ann’s Bra Shop

            JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Matt Blunt’s highly successful initiative to increase transparency and accountability in Missouri state government has reached the 11 million hit mark and Missourians are using the site to find valuable information about how their tax dollars are spent. 

            “Missouri families deserve to know how their state government is spending their hard-earned tax dollars,” Gov. Blunt said. “The MAP Internet site is a great tool that allows all Missourians to become fiscal watchdogs and hold all of Missouri’s elected officials accountable for their spending choices.  My administration has made Missouri state government more open and transparent by providing the greatest access to information in our state’s history.”

            The governor’s office recently heard from several MAP visitors who became fiscal watchdogs questioning the state’s expenses to Ann’s Bra Shop in Vandalia.  After the governor directed a review of the expenses, the Office of Administration found they were legitimate Department of Corrections expenses for special-needs products for female inmates in Missouri’s prison system.

            “This is exactly how we envisioned the MAP site working when we created it,” Gov. Blunt said. “Some in state government might be concerned about what we place on the MAP site and that is exactly the point.  Transparency and openness prevents wasteful spending and we welcome any scrutiny that helps us better safeguard the taxpayer’s money.”

            Missourians who find troublesome or questionable spending can call a variety of people including state legislators, relevant agencies, the governor’s office or call 573-751-1506.

            The governor’s MAP Internet site enables Missourians to track tax dollars in near real-time.  Since launching the new Internet site last year there have been 11,011,974 hits to the MAP site at http://mapyourtaxes.mo.gov.

            The MAP site is one of the first comprehensive databases of financial records based on real-time data in the nation. The MAP site is updated at the close of each business day to provide up-to-date access to information about state spending.  Anyone can search the MAP site by budget category, vendor or contract.  Links to other public information maintained by the state are also available on the MAP site.  The MAP expenditure site has also been enhanced to allow Missourians to review state expenditures by state agency and information regarding tax credits administered by the Missouri Department of Economic Development since tax credit application year 2000. The site also provides easy to access, real-time information on state employee salaries.

            Americans for Tax Reform, a leading taxpayer watchdog group lauded Gov. Blunt for creating the Internet site. “Gov. Blunt is one of the first governors to enable taxpayers to become fiscal watchdogs, and I commend him for taking this step towards greater fiscal transparency,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

            The team that developed Gov. Blunt’s initiative and enacted his vision for the MAP portal earned national recognition with an American Business Award.  The Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) Team won the Best MIS and IT Team Category for the development of MapYourTaxes.mo.gov at the 2008 American Business Awards. The American Business Awards are the only national, all–encompassing awards program honoring great performances in business.