Where do your tax dollars go?
By Jessica Cross crossja84@gmail

Easy access to local government spending became available in S.C. in early March 2008 at www.ssl.sc.gov/Spending- Transparency.

Gov. Mark Sanford put forth an executive order in August 2007 to have all government agency spending records of expenses over $100, and dating back to fiscal year 2006- 2007, published online. The Governor's Office has coordinated with Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom's office to make the data accessible.

Joel Sawyer, spokesman for the Governor's Office, pointed out, state government spending records have traditionally been readily available primarily to media and government officials. Sawyer said, "We're big believers in the idea of transparency in government."

To make keeping up with what state officials are doing with tax payers dollars easier, the Comptroller General's office has worked to ensure that searching state spending records isn't overly complicated. "We just want people to know that when they want to know what's being spent, they can," said Compt. Gen. Eckstrom.

The spending details are divided into categories like "travel" or "supplies and materials," and can be searched by year or by month. Spending records for each agency are also downloadable so that citizens can save the records or evaluate them in a different view.

The Comptroller General's Office is also building basic history files, which are expected to be complete and accessible by 2010. The office is implementing a new computer system that will enable more record details than general categories such as "travel."

Cabinet agencies are adding the database link to their own websites. A link to the transparency site can also be found on the Comptroller General's website: www.cg.sc.gov.