966 0 Kommentare New Castle County, Del. Takes Historic Step to Increase Government Transparency - Seite 2

"As a member of County Council I have worked for many years to open county government records to the public, and today I am proud to partner with County Executive Meyer and support this transparency initiative," said County Councilman Bob Weiner. "With this site we are taking another big leap forward."

Open Checkbook is fully interactive through features that empower the public to download data to an Excel or .csv file. Additionally, data scientists and software engineers can seamlessly tap into county expenditure data through the site using Application Program Interface (API), a software tool that allows data to be easily combined with data from other sources to facilitate research and analysis.

"New Castle County's Open Checkbook provides the community with an opportunity to see how their local government is using its resources," said Ryan Harrington, Co-Organizer of Open Data Delaware. "The transition from PDFs to newer technologies will allow constituents to better search, filter, and understand data that is meaningful for their communities."

Open Checkbook was launched with spending for Fiscal Year 2016. Data for Fiscal Year 2017, which ended June 30, will be added by this fall and county expenditure information will be added on a quarterly basis going forward. The site continues to provide links to existing financial information on the New Castle County website, including approved county budgets, monthly spending balance sheets, and current future year revenue and expenditure projections.

The Meyer administration sought guidance from good government and transparency advocates including Common Cause Delaware, the Delaware Coalition for Open Government, Civic League for New Castle County and the Delaware League of Women Voters for feedback and ideas as Open Checkbook was developed. Several community advocates attended today's announcement and spoke about its value to everyday citizens.

"I want to congratulate New Castle County government for making this interactive resource possible," said John Flaherty, Board Member of the Delaware Coalition for Open Government. "This site will be a work in progress but having access to information like this was unheard of before the current Administration."

"Common Cause Delaware supports the new initiative by New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer to bring increased transparency to County Government," said Jennifer Hill, Program Director of Common Cause Delaware. "The online checkbook will allow members of the community to see who the County is doing business with and how much we are spending. We look forward to working with New Castle County on issues of transparency and accountability and thank them for this effort."