(AUSTIN) Texas Comptroller Susan Combs and State Rep. Debbie Riddle have announced the launch of a new online reporting tool aimed at bringing greater public accountability to government spending.
The Comptrollers Where the Money Goes" Web page will now include an additional budget and expenditure search tool feature that allows the public to see a side-by-side comparison of the dollars budgeted for a state agency versus what that agency actually expended.
Riddle said the idea was hatched from a citizens task force she formed last summer in her district to watchdog state agencies.
My constituents took it upon themselves to find out exactly what our agencies were doing with taxpayer dollars" Riddle said. When we started digging we realized it was very easy to see exactly where agencies were spending their money but we couldnt tell how much over or under budget they were with those expenditures."
Where the Money Goes" already featured online tools that allowed visitors to see what items were purchased with state dollars by each agency all the way down to objects as small as pens and pencils for agencies that capture this level of detail in their accounting systems. But Riddle said it was sometimes difficult for the task force to match expenditures back to their corresponding line item in the state budget. The search tools not only streamline this comparison but also allow searches by strategy and funding source within an agency.
This is really very cutting edge stuff" Riddle said. No other state in the union has more tools to empower the voters to protect their own wallets from wasteful state spending. I want to thank Comptroller Combs and her staff for all their hard work on this project and their continued dedication to keeping our government accountable to the people."
The Comptrollers Where the Money Goes" site is available at www.window.state.tx.us/wherethemoneygoes/. The new reporting tool can be found on this site under the Budget and Expenditure Search tool column using the View more Budget and Expenditure search tools" link.
(AUSTIN) Texas Comptroller Susan Combs and State Rep. Debbie Riddle have announced the launch of a new online reporting tool aimed at bringing greater public accountability to government spending.
The Comptrollers Where the Money Goes" Web page will now include an additional budget and expenditure search tool feature that allows the public to see a side-by-side comparison of the dollars budgeted for a state agency versus what that agency actually expended.
Riddle said the idea was hatched from a citizens task force she formed last summer in her district to watchdog state agencies.
My constituents took it upon themselves to find out exactly what our agencies were doing with taxpayer dollars" Riddle said. When we started digging we realized it was very easy to see exactly where agencies were spending their money but we couldnt tell how much over or under budget they were with those expenditures."
Where the Money Goes" already featured online tools that allowed visitors to see what items were purchased with state dollars by each agency all the way down to objects as small as pens and pencils for agencies that capture this level of detail in their accounting systems. But Riddle said it was sometimes difficult for the task force to match expenditures back to their corresponding line item in the state budget. The search tools not only streamline this comparison but also allow searches by strategy and funding source within an agency.
This is really very cutting edge stuff" Riddle said. No other state in the union has more tools to empower the voters to protect their own wallets from wasteful state spending. I want to thank Comptroller Combs and her staff for all their hard work on this project and their continued dedication to keeping our government accountable to the people."
The Comptrollers Where the Money Goes" site is available at www.window.state.tx.us/wherethemoneygoes/. The new reporting tool can be found on this site under the Budget and Expenditure Search tool column using the View more Budget and Expenditure search tools" link.
