Stimulus-spending sites chided for lack of detail

Web sites explaining economic stimulus spending in Utah should be more transparent, a study released Wednesday concluded.

Good Jobs First gave Utah's main clearinghouse for stimulus information, recovery.utah.gov, zero out of 100 possible points because the site doesn't show details such as the status of stimulus projects, which parts of the state are receiving funding and how the money is supposed to be spent.

The nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog group also looked at each state's transportation Web site because stimulus projects related to transportation have been the first to be completed. In Utah, that site is udot.utah.gov/arra, and it received 30 out of 100 possible points. The study said the site is strong because the Utah Department of Transportation frequently updates it, but it lost points because it doesn't estimate how many jobs were being created by each project, and it doesn't show how many jobs were created once a project is completed.

But Mike Mower and Mike Hansen, in the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, which maintains recovery.utah.gov, believe their site is more accurate than states that received higher ratings in the study. Utah's site explains what the state will receive from the federal government, as opposed to other states' sites, which only describe what the state has received to date. Other data such as job creation and geographical areas of stimulus projects haven't been sorted out in detail and if the state posted the information, it would only be speculative.

"We feel our tool shows (accurate information)," Mower said. "And with that they can chase down valuable information and jobs and resources that are tied to the stimulus package."

UDOT spokesman Adan Carrillo said employees take calls from anyone who needs information about stimulus projects at 801-965-4000. People also can e-mail UDOT at srwebmail@utah.gov.

"We can either send them a link (to answer their questions) or we can send them the actual (project reports)," Carrillo said. "There's a lot of reports that need to be filed and created, and sometimes they just get buried."

The Good Jobs First study indicates that most states need to do more to be transparent. The average score of the 50 states was 28.2, and the median was 25.

"It's not surprising the average taxpayer is somewhat bewildered by the stimulus plan," Philip Mattera, who researched and wrote the study, said during a teleconference with journalists.

The most transparent state is Maryland, which uses software created by ESRI, a company specializing in geographical information systems that has contracts with all 50 states and provides a template to each state for free.

The least transparent state is Illinois, the home state of President Barack Obama, who pushed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through Congress.

The Good Jobs First study is available at Goodjobsfirst.org/Stimulusweb.cfm.

e-mail: lhancock@desnews.com

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