Wonks of the World: Unite!

Just in time for Independence Day and the spate of Tea Parties around Vermont, two public policy groups joined forces to create a website that gives citizens an inside look at how and where their tax dollars are spent.

It was more than a year in the works, but the left-leaning Public Assets Institute and the Libertarian-leaning Ethan Allen Institute launched Vermont Transparency on Thursday. 

"There wasn't an inch of difference between us," notes Jack Hoffman, senior analyst at PAI. "We both understand the importance of having good information and good data for the public. The collaboration has been terrific."

John McClaughry, president and founder of EAI, concurs.

“Neither of us ruled anything out the other wanted to include,” said McClaughry. "This is really straightforward and factual information."

Policy wonks as well as professional and citizen journalists will find it easy to dive more deeply into the nitty-gritty of state revenues and spending, both current and historical. The site also lets you find out what state employees earn: You can search by job title or an individual's name.

Visitors will also find links to federal stimulus spending, state economic development credits, rainy day funds, school district spending and outcomes, and municipal web pages.

Within the next week or two, people will also be able to search state payments to vendors and delve into budget details from 20 years ago.

"I'm quite sure when we're done, as it's still a work in progress, that this will be the only place in the state of Vermont where you will be able to get a 5- 10-, and 20-year history of the state budget in basically one document," notes Hoffman.

Budget information provided by the state had to be stitched together electronically, as the titles of budget line items changed over time, says Hoffman. The state's current accounting system doesn't easily track how much government spends. In other words, you can find out what it spent on an item, whom it bought it from, and what it was used for—just not all in one search. Vermont Transparency will pull that information into a single search, Hoffman notes.

Creating that useful database has meant taking the time to splice together bits of information. In all, the site cost about $75,000 to develop.

While the focus of the website is primarily fiscal data, it provides a one-stop wonk shop for other info about state and local government. The site offers a guide to tracking roll-call votes of state legislators, for example, and users can find out how to track the progress of bills on the legislature’s website. There is also a guide to Vermont’s education finance laws, links to state statues, summaries of new legislation and the Vermont Constitution.

Making public data more accessible is a goal of the project, and the groups hope to hear from folks about ways to improve the site over time.

“The information on our website is all public data, but it is often difficult to find and not always easy to use,” said Hoffman, the site's project director and a former journalist.

Hoffman was the longtime bureau chief of the Vermont Press Bureau in Montpelier, the capitol bureau for the Rutland Herald and Times Argus. He wrote extensively on the finances of state government and schools.

Ethan Allen Institute and the Public Assets Institute often take opposing positions on matter of public policy, the two groups noted in a statement. However, both agree that good data and solid information are the foundation of sound public policy.

"We didn't have any trouble at all deciding on the content, but some of the memos I wrote had to be sanitized somewhat," McClaughry joked. "I'm prone to rhetoric that would have people finding out why government is wasting their money rather than spending to advance necessary social progress."

In fact, during the yearlong project both sides were on the same page when it came to which content should be included and how it should be presented.

The Ethan Allen Institute, founded in 1993, is a nonprofit educational organization that "advocates for individual liberty, private property, competitive free enterprise, and frugal, responsible and limited government."

The Public Assets Institute, founded in 2003, supports "democracy by helping Vermonters understand the role public policies and public structures play in providing prosperity for all."