08 CAPTURE. COSTTREE 2016 Q2 ISSUE
TELLING A FALSE TALE
Without transparency and context for data, it may seem as if the government is setting our money on fire. Public outrage over excessive and wasteful government spending has become too cliché to need examples. Sometimes this outrage is warranted; sometimes it is misplaced. Taxpayers have the right and the obligation to question their government’s activities and hold them accountable for their actions. Seeing the complete picture and putting context to fiscal data will cool many heated minds—without the full story, things may not be as they seem.
Almost all public agencies publish budgets and spending reports. These reports are published in print and may be made available at local libraries or the government’s administrative offices. Also, they are more and more often published online which greatly increases the availability of these reports to a broader audience. Obviously, data availability is a good thing. It is a step in increasing transparency, but information can be dangerous without the full story.
SETTING MONEY ON FIRE
Government spending reports, when viewed in the standard format of department and fund-level reporting, can distort the costs and tell a false tale. Imagine a well-intentioned citizen reviewing their county’s annual expenditure reports prior to voting in an upcoming election. They see the costs for the Sheriff’s department—okay, the Public Works department—fine, the Parks department—good, then they see the Finance department—WHAT???? The Finance department’s spending in my county is almost as much as for my entire Sheriff’s department??!?! And the IT department spent even more than Finance??!!?!? The citizen received accurate and easily accessible information about his county’s costs of service.
These high costs of seemingly nonessential county services send our concerned citizen to the polls with the intention of voting down his district supervisor and any plan to increase taxes and services. But, our concerned citizen plans to vote for the incumbent sheriff, because that department seems efficient. After using the data available to him, he proceeds with the mindset that his government already has too much money and seems to squander it in a bloated administrative bureaucracy.
IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPARENCY