Asheville City Council hung out from 3:00-10:00pm today. At their first meeting, a worksession, they discussed the budget. Revenues came in $1 million less than expenditures. The city would begin the next year $5.1 million short if the state didn’t require them to balance their budget. The shortfalls include appropriations that dragged the city’s fund [...]
Hard times help governments become more fiscally conservative. There is an indication the Haywood County Commissioners are recovering from the identity crisis that causes public officials to mistake themselves for Father Christmas. They stalled when asked by representatives of Maggie Valley to partner to haul debris and restore streams by matching a federal grant. The [...]
Haywood County is putting its policy of paying government employees for days not worked due to snow under review. Public perception is expected to be in favor of not paying them. However, if the county cared to conduct one last study, it may find it saves money by paying planners, studiers, and administrative bureaucrats not [...]
Transit system impact Asheville's transit system has the smallest impact on regional travel, according to a report by Dr. David Hartgen of UNCC.
Asheville congestion Future road congestion could threaten North Carolina’s economy, but Asheville is better prepared for congestion than most other N.C. cities.
Shuler and amnesty U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., and several Republican members of Congress try get Senate to resist attempts to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.
Buncombe County school system extends year through June 14 ASHEVILLE — What’s left of spring break for Buncombe County students is safe for now. School officials opted to extend the school year to deal with the latest snow days. Buncombe County students will attend school through June 14. North Buncombe district students, who have missed 16 days of school this school year because of weather, will go to school Saturday, April 10, to make up one additional missed day. Other makeup dates for North Buncombe will be announced later.
Most Asheville City Council members against water rate increase ASHEVILLE — A water rate increase that would be the biggest in a decade may be scaled back following criticism of the proposal by some City Council members Tuesday. The water system is anticipating a $3.2 million hole in its budget and city water staff suggests a 9 percent rate increase. That would amount to a moderate $23.32 annual increase for the average household, from $259.08 to $282.40. But it could add tens of thousands of dollars to the bills of bigger customers.
Water rates in Asheville could jump up ASHEVILLE — Water customers in and around the city could soon face one of the biggest rate hikes in more than a decade. One of the reasons for the proposed 9 percent increase appears to defy logic: there’s too much water. Another reason makes too much sense: the water system could lose up to $1.7 million transferred by the city to road and sidewalk repair.
Group questions benefits of anti-smog law CHARLOTTE — The $2.9 billion N.C. utilities will spend to obey a landmark anti-smog law has sent power-plant emissions plummeting. But where’s the proof, a conservative think tank in Raleigh asked Friday, that the money has also cleaned our air? The John Locke Foundation asserted that state officials have oversold the benefits of the 2002 Clean Smokestacks Act. Smog levels show no change after the act took effect, it said, and North Carolina’s air looks no better than in four neighboring states.
Regulating the Regulators: Seven Reforms for Sensible Regulatory Policy in North Carolina The excessive regulatory power allowed by North Carolina imposes great costs on its citizens and businesses and hurts the economic competitiveness of the state. This report identifies seven reforms that North Carolina should adopt to improve the regulatory environment in the state.
Trust But Verify: Open government is better government Executive Summary
Governments have been seeking ways to adopt or advertise their efforts at open government, sunshine, and transparency. Recent history is rife, however, with examples of how they have failed – such as Gov. Mike Easley’s financial dealings and the hole in the state health plan.
Open government helps build trust with taxpayers. Tools that improve openness with taxpayers have also helped government officials and managers better use their resources. Some state and local governments found ways to save money through improved transparency.
Financial transparency is an important step toward open government. Online budgets, contracts, salaries, and check registers make information more accessible. Corporate financial statements provide a model in clarity and accessibility. Too many government documents are not searchable in any way. When tied to outcome measures such as test scores in education, this greater accessibility can provide better insight about which government programs work and which ones do not.
Process transparency opens the closed doors elected officials try to hide behind when drafting laws. Putting bills online 72 hours before debate and voting begin, instead of in the middle of the night the day of a vote, would leave fewer surprises in legislation. Five-year fiscal projections for state and local budgets would also make clear the impacts of program changes over time, not just for the year or two a budget is in effect. Governments should also take further steps to publicize their meetings beforehand, record their proceedings, and make minutes or archived recordings available online.
Regulatory transparency means making the proceedings of non-elected bodies as open as those of the legislature, county commissions, and town councils. Proposed regulations should be easier to find and understand for those with an interest. The state auditor or an independent body should perform any audits or performance reviews. Reviews should cover not just how well an agency or program accomplishes its mission, but also whether the mission is appropriate for government.
Why Transparency Matters
Open government is needed for a healthy democracy. Yet much of how government operates is unknown. Carolina Journal first reported on Gov. Easley’s financial dealings in 2006, but it took until Bev Perdue took office and opened state police records for details to emerge.
The state spent as much as $226 million in excess cost for mental health services over three years. It took months for the costs to become large enough to gain attention and the full extent of the problem was not realized until the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division presented its findings in July 2009. The $250 million hole for 2009 in the state health plan also caught legislators by surprise.
Open government builds trust and improves government operations. It can even save money, as witnessed in Texas, where the state comptroller found $73,000 dollars in savings just through cutting the number of contracts for toner cartridges.
There are many facets of open government. The John Locke Foundation created the web site NCTransparency.com to improve online fiscal transparency, and the response from local governments has been very promising. The Greensboro News & Record complained that Guilford County commissioners work behind closed doors too much. Guilford is not alone. Few governments broadcast their meetings online or on television. Fewer still post proposed ordinances, rule changes, or even agendas online in advance of their meetings. Open contracting with competitive bidding is another essential element of open government.
Making information accessible is about more than making it available. Citizens need to be able to understand it. Elected and unelected officials need to change their approach to information. It is not simply about responding to citizen requests for information. The problem is that government documents are often difficult to understand even for those who use them on a daily basis. Is it any wonder that few citizens ask for budget information when that information comes in a form that is almost unintelligible?
Asheville, for example, has its budget available in twelve sections plus a glossary. Wake County Commissioner Stan Norwalk voted against putting information online because he worried about both the cost of putting data online and the effect on county employees who would “be bombarded with so many requests for information … that they will spend too much time dealing with frivolous inquiries.”
The answer, however, is neither to avoid making the information available nor just to put it online in any format. The answer is to present the information online in a way that can be easily understood.
The remainder of this paper will examine the three aspects of open government – fiscal transparency, process transparency, and regulatory transparency. Each section will provide examples of what transparency means in that area, steps governments are taking to become more transparent, and opportunities to improve transparency.
Why Transparency? Creating trust in government Open government is just as important in a modern republic as it was two centuries ago. Larger bureaucratic states threatened to overwhelm the ability of citizens and their representatives to keep track of government. Revelations of corrupt government officials, fraud in various programs, subsidies to chosen groups or companies, and laws written by lobbyists still surface. Fortunately, more tools are available every day to make more information available from more governments to more people.
The John Locke Foundation is taking steps to help governments become more open. Our NCTransparency.com site helps taxpayers find government information online and gives grades for a quick check of how much is available for a state agency, local government, or school district. Our latest policy report on transparency provides three areas for improved transparency and some examples of what is already available.
This guide has four sections:
How to think about transparency
How to increase financial transparency
How to expand transparency to the process of governing
