Editorial: New tools are available on government spending; use them
Analyzing Kane County government spending became easier Monday with the launch of a new web portal that officials say provides "unprecedented access to Kane County's financial information." Called Kane County OpenGov and accessible at kanecountyil.opengov.com, this tool is an asset to anyone interested in monitoring the county's spending, but it's not just the access that makes it valuable; it's also the versatility.
The site takes transparency to a new level, building on the county's previous Online Checkbook, to enable users to quickly visualize complex revenue and expense information going back five years, as well as to produce various types of spending analysis by category, fund, year, and in some cases, even vendor.
The project was spearheaded by Kane County Auditor Terry Hunt, who worked with Deputy Auditor Andrea Rich, Treasurer Dave Rickert, Executive Finance Director Joe Onzick and Chief Information Officer Roger Fahnestock on the design and implementation. The result is a website that quickly shows year-over-year expense and revenue comparisons as well as the progress of spending during the current year by category or department. It quickly asks and answers questions like "How much is spent on capital projects?" or "What are the sources of revenue for the county?" And it links seamlessly to the county's Online Checkbook, where users can monitor every invoice and payment up to the end of the previous month, and filter the results in numerous ways.
Some of this is not new or unique. Increasingly, suburban entities are providing more direct and up-to-date access to their spending and budgets. Cook County has provided direct access to its checking account register since 2010 at www.cookcountyil.gov/open-county-initiative/check-register/ and it enables users to search the database in various ways through its Open Data site, datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/id/gywr-fjeh. DuPage County provides access to its checkbook register at datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/id/gywr-fjeh and people interested in Lake County spending can begin breaking down the budget at www.lakecountyil.gov/finance/budget/Pages/default.aspx#. For state spending, the Illinois comptroller shows up-to-date spending at ledger.illinoiscomptroller.com/ and allows users to cross-check vendors against campaign donations at www.openbook.illinoiscomptroller.com/.
Kane's new initiative is distinguished both by the volume of information available and the usefulness of its many graphical displays. Auditor Hunt is to be commended for quickly delivering on a campaign promise to make financial information more transparent and interactive. But his work, like that of any agency providing financial information, has an important limitation. It's valuable only if you use it.
In a release announcing the portal, Kane County Board President Chris Lauzen says "we invite citizen participation to help us innovate and improve." In other words, in Kane County and elsewhere, don't be satisfied to just complain about government spending. Use the tools increasingly available to help you do something about it.