Battle over Cost of Transparency Continues in New Jersey

Thursday, September 9, 2010 5:05 PM

We have been working hard to garner support for transparency in New Jersey, and were happy to see Gov. Christie launch a transparency website this summer. However, bills to instantiate spending transparency for taxpayers have stalled in the legislature every session they were introduced. Recently, politicians have argued against the creation of some of these transparency portals by citing the costs of implementing such efforts. This perception that transparency will end up costing taxpayers more in the long run is owed to the astronomical estimates of past costs associated with these projects – approximations that have nearly always been far above the actual costs. Oklahoma’s transparency portal was estimated to cost $300,000 when the only expense that the state actually incurred was the purchase of software to report spending data, which totaled $8,000. The website was built and maintained within existing resources. Similarly, Missouri taxpayers were told they would be saddled with a $293,140 tab for their transparency portal. However, resources were reallocated from existing IT funds and the construction and maintenance of the Missouri Accountability Portal did not cost Missourians a single penny.
 
We have seen localities balk at requests for transparency before.  However, these officials always fail to answer how the simple transfer of information they should already have been available to officials constitutes any significant burden on their workforce or resources. Taxpayers should take note of which officials oppose allowing public scrutiny on spending – it suggests these employees may have something to hide. 

Moreover, transparency nets real savings for states and localities. In Texas, Comptroller Susan Combs identified over $8.7 million in savings simply by using her portal to locate inefficiencies and redundancies, such as duplicative contracts for printer toner and ink. Similarly, many states, such as South Carolina, have cited a massive decrease in Freedom of Information Requests, that have helped costs and redirect resources for more useful purposes.

This all points to the broader argument that transparency is not a privilege – it is a right. Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent and should get to track it, dollar-for-dollar, at the state, local and federal level. If you are in New Jersey, call your representative and tell them to support transparency now!

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