Taking steps toward transparency

Have a little time to kill? Want to find out how the Utah state government is spending billions of your taxpayer dollars?

You might take a spin on the state's new "transparency" Web site, located at: utah.gov/transparency.

It could take some time to find what you're really looking for. And large, general searches — like looking up how much "food" the state bought in the current fiscal year — may provide more trivia conversations with friends and colleagues than information vital to citizens.

But still, you can find some pretty interesting stuff.

Of course, Sen. Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, the sponsor of the bill ordering the state to set up the site (cost, around $115,000), and those backing his efforts, say the information — both where state revenues are coming from and where they are being spent — is critical to an informed citizenry.

"The site has proven to be much better than I expected" when he passed the bill several years ago, said Niederhauser. "The site is much more searchable and easier to use that other states' sites. Everything is there, everything that the state spends money on."

But who really wants to know how much the state paid its privately owned liquor packaging agencies (stores and restaurants that sell bottled liquor in rural places)?

If you do, the answer is $1.7 million, from July 1, 2008 to early May of this year.

Or how much did the state spend on bottled water over the last 10 months? The answer: $222,888.94.

As in using any Web-based search engine, how you phrase your inquiry is critical.

For example, ask how much the state spent on buying newspapers and you get "no results." Ask how much it spent on buying books and subscriptions (newspapers are no doubt in there somewhere), and you get 5,109 hits totaling $1.1 million.

One cool thing about the Web site is after retrieving the 5,109 individual spending items on books and subscriptions, clicking on an item will get more information about that specific purchase. For example, a person can see that the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget spent $10,900 on subscriptions for the Federal Funds Information For States, an important tool for state budgeters who are always looking for federal money.

Search under "food" and you get 41,489 hits for a total of $46 million. However, narrowing to a more specific item, such as a July 1, 2008 purchase of $310.34 at the Draper prison, does not yield specific information about what kind of food was bought, what the purpose was, or whether the inmates, guards or other diners enjoyed it.

As with any new system, there are holes.

For example, you can find out an individual payment to a state liquor packaging agency. And one of those entries will detail to whom the payment was made.