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Government Transparency Updates

News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget

Colorado Receives a “C+”, Ranks 20th in Country for Transparency of Government Spending

Colorado receives a “C+” for the level of transparency and ease of use of the state’s main website for accessing government spending data according to a new report by the CoPIRG Foundation and Frontier Group. Colorado received 78 out of 100 points, which ranked it 20th in the country for online government spending transparency. Colorado missed points around ease of use and the disclosure levels around economic development subsidies. 

Report | CoPIRG Foundation and Frontier Group | Budget

Following the Money 2018

State governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on everything from employee salaries and office supplies to professional lawyers and subsidies to encourage economic development. Public accountability helps ensure that state funds are spent wisely. State-operated transparency websites provide checkbook-level detail on government spending, allowing citizens and watchdog groups to view payments made to individual companies, details on purchased goods or services, and benefits obtained in exchange for public subsidies. However, this analysis – CoPIRG Foundation’s eighth evaluation of state transparency websites – finds that despite continued improvements in transparency websites, states still have a long way to go in making critical data about state spending truly accessible to the public. 

Report | CoPIRG Foundation and Frontier Group | Budget

Following the Money 2017: Special Districts

Special districts are a significant form of government, and should be held to strong financial transparency standards. A review of 79 special districts’ online financial transparency shows that while a few districts are meeting the goals of “Transparency 2.0” – a standard of comprehensive, one-stop, oneclick budget accountability and accessibility – the vast majority do little to inform citizens about how they spend money. To empower and engage the public, enable citizen oversight of all branches of government, and improve the efficiency with which they operate, special districts, along with local and state governments, should expand the amount and improve the quality of spending data that are made available to the public online. 

News Release | CoPIRG Foundation | Budget

New Report: Special Districts Too Often Fail to Show How They Spend Money

A new report found that many special districts across the country are failing to provide accessible, online, and comprehensive information about their spending. Special districts are created to provide specific services like fire protection, medical care, transportation and housing for a designated area that would otherwise typically be provided directly by a city, county or state. There were 2,392 special districts in Colorado in 2012 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the fourth most of any state. Not every Colorado special district reports spending information to the U.S. Census Bureau but of the ones that did, they spent $4.8 billion in Colorado.  

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