Local Government Disclosure Requirements:

Weighing Redundancy/ Emphasizing Effi ciency

By Natalie Davila, Mike Klemens and Kara Moretto KDM Consulting, Inc. March 15, 2016 About the Authors

Michael D. Klemens Manufacturing Center as well as the Director KDM Consulting President of Economic Research for the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development. She Mike worked in the Director’s Offi ce at the is currently an adjunct faculty member at DePaul Department of Revenue for 20 years in an University. Natalie holds a Bachelor’s degree from assortment of tax policy related roles, re ring in Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a 2012 as Manager of Policy and Communica ons Master’s degree in Applied Economics from the where he oversaw the development of the University of , and a Ph.D. in Public Policy department’s web presence. Analysis from the University of Illinois in Chicago.

In 2012 Mike established KDM Consul ng, which Kara Moretto works extensively with the Taxpayers’ Federa on of KDM Consulting Associate Illinois. His areas of tax exper se include property tax, property and sales tax exemp ons and taxes Kara has over 23 years of progressive tax that the state administers for local governments, administra on experience including a s nt as head together with a broad general knowledge of the of the Offi ce of Local Government Services. She 75+ taxes and programs administered by the has exper se in Illinois specifi c legisla ve research department. Mike holds a Bachelor’s degree from and extensive knowledge of the Illinois property Dartmouth College and a Master’s degree from tax system. Sangamon State University. In her capacity as Illinois’ property tax administrator, Dr. Natalie Davila Kara had direct oversight of annual property tax KDM Consulting Economist programs including supervision of the state’s CAMA system and cost schedule development, sales ra o Natalie has more than 20 years of experience in the studies, county equaliza on factors, homestead formula on and execu on of data-driven tax and exemp ons, the property tax extension limita on economic development research, strategies and law and other rate limits, and interpre ng statutes. policies. For the past two years she has worked as She made extensive use of the department’s website a consultant on state and local tax administra on, to communicate with local offi cials and the public. policy and economic development projects. Kara holds Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois-Springfi eld. Natalie was the Research Director at the Illinois Department of Revenue from 2003 to 2013, where KDM Consulting Inc. she championed use of the Internet to distribute Department research and policy analysis. Natalie KDM Consul ng conducts data driven tax policy has also held the positon of Director of Economic analysis, economic research and fi scal policy Evalua on and Market Research for the Chicago analysis. More detail at www.taxpolicyissues.com.

Local Government Disclosure Requirements Executive Summary

This report was commissioned by a consor um of local government associa ons to analyze pos ng, repor ng and publica on requirements for Illinois local governments and to examine the concept proposed in various bills before the General Assembly that would impose redundant Internet pos ng requirements on Illinois local governments. The study fi nds that:

 An independent review of Illinois local  Many of the current proposals are government websites by an organiza on redundant. Much of the informa on that promotes transparency in proposed to be posted on local government websites, Sunshine Review, governments’ websites is already available gave Illinois local governments high marks on the Internet. for their websites.  Much of the exis ng informa on available  Illinois state government already imposes on the Internet was done at local taxpayer a host of repor ng requirements on expense. Redundant requirements would be local governments. We iden fi ed 571 ineffi cient and a waste of taxpayer’s money. statutory requirements to disclose via various means 763 separate pieces  No evidence exists of a empts to iden fy of informa on. (We refer to these as gaps in current informa on available or “transparency-related” no fi ca ons.) comple on of cost-benefi t analyses to assure that taxpayers’ money is being  More than half the exis ng requirements spent effi ciently. involve publishing a “legal no ce” in newspapers, where circula on and rereadershipadershipp iiss ddedeclining.clliiniing.g

Local Government Disclosure Requirements Page 1 Introduction

This report was commissioned by a consor um of local government associa ons to analyze pos ng, repor ng and publica on requirements for Illinois local governments. It was undertaken to provide context for a number of bills introduced in the General Assembly that would impose signifi cant addi onal Internet pos ng requirements on local governments. The study looks at a myriad of “transparency-related” repor ng requirements and details the signifi cant amount of informa on already made available to Illinoisans.

Findings

ILLINOIS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS were, in alphabe cal order, , Illinois, GET HIGH MARKS FOR INTERNET Maryland, and Washington. Below are the results for Illinois in 2013. TRANSPARENCY

Illinois local Overall State County City School District governments have Exceeds embraced the Internet > above average > above average above average above average as an eff ec ve and Expecta ons effi cient way to get Source: hƩ p://sunshinereview.org/images/0/06/2013_Transparency_Report_Card.pdf informa on to their ci zens. Illinois When compared to other states, school districts in local governments provide a signifi cant amount only three states received a higher grade than those of informa on, both on the Internet and via other in Illinois. means, to keep their ci zens informed about upcoming mee ngs, schedules, services, where to Ballotpedia has ceased doing the type of interstate get help, fi nancial informa on and related records, comparisons done on Sunshinereview.org, but has along with other recurrent ques ons that would incorporated the Sunshine Review criteria in its have to be answered individually when ci zens evalua on of websites. In discussing the future inquired or fi led a Freedom of Informa on request. of government transparency in its 2013 report, Sunshine Review recognized that costs should be An independent na onal review of government considered when it discussed federal legisla on websites has given Illinois state and local that would spark new state regula on of local governments among the highest ra ngs in the data, observing, country. In the most recent publicly available government transparency study by the Sunshine “while that could be a possible long-term Review group (since absorbed by Ballotpedia), the benefi t, such legisla on could lead to a short- websites of Illinois state and local governments term increase in spending on data that is scored in the top fi ve across the country. The fi ve already available to ci zens.” 1 states earning an overall “exceeds expecta ons”

Page 2 Local Government Disclosure Requirements OTHER INFORMATION PROVIDED TO MEET EXTENSIVE STATE REQUIREMENTS We found extensive “transparency-related” references that require 763 diff erent instances of repor ng requirements sca ered throughout repor ng are detailed in Appendix A. the state laws governing the 10 types of local governments that we examined: Municipali es, Table 1 iden fi es the diff erent methods of repor ng Schools, Coun es, Fire Protec on Districts, Park that are required of Illinois local governments Districts, Community College Districts, Townships, and whether that no fi ca on is by public pos ng, Road Districts, Library Districts and Sanitary Districts newspaper legal no ce, Internet publica on or some along with other state laws. The 571 statutory other manner.

TABLE 1: MEANS OF PUBLICATION* Unit of Government/Statute Public Newspaper Web Other Total General Elec on Law 5 27 1 1 34 Open Mee ngs 824014 Public Funds Statement Act 0 1 0 1 2 Property Tax Code 4 20 1 3 28 Local Government 372315 FOIA 1 0 1 0 2 Coun es 13 67 5 15 100 Municipali es 53 136 14 34 237 Townships 9 15 1 3 28 Schools 13 47 24 26 110 Libraries 18 19 2 7 46 Community Colleges 2 13 0 4 19 Park Districts 7 15 0 9 31 Fire Protec on 13 25 2 7 47 Road Districts 8 14 0 3 25 Sanitary Districts 6 14 0 5 25 Total 163 422 57 121 763 *Note that there may more than one method of publicaƟ on required by Statute

EVOLVING METHODS OF COMMUNICATION As Table 1 demonstrates, the most common state publica ons via the Internet in lieu of in newspapers. statutory requirement for disclosure is publica on That has sparked a ba le between newspapers, of a newspaper legal no ce. That requirement who are feeling circula on and adver sing revenue persists as newspaper readership is declining, squeezes, and local governments, which are facing par cularly among younger people. Studies show fi nancial squeezes. that daily readership has declined from 44 percent to 20 percent in the 25 to 34 age range and from Rick Edmonds, wri ng on a blog for the Poynter 72 to 52 percent in the over 65 range.2 Across Ins tute, a St. Petersburg–based organiza on that the country, local governments have pushed back supports journalism, reviewed eff orts to cut back on the expenses involved and sought to make the legal no ces in a pos ng headlined,

Local Government Disclosure Requirements Page 3 “New revenue threat looms as newspapers’ newspapers are increasingly facing a reality legal no ce franchise comes under fresh of online-only public no ces.”4 pressure from cash-strapped states.”3 In Illinois, the costs to Illinois local governments As part of its Public Policy and Funding the News are high, par cularly for larger no ces. An internal Project, the Annenberg Center on Communica ons Kane County study showed that in 2015, a general at the University of Southern California highlighted assessment year in which the county is required to the key issues in comparing Arizona and publish a list of the assessments for each parcel of Pennsylvania. Author Ma hew Weber concluded: property in the county, the cost to taxpayers was $154,303. The study characterized publica on of “This brief in no way advocates for the the assessment lists as “an an quated process that demise of public no ces, yet in an era of cost provides limited informa on to an increasingly small cu ng and online informa on distribu on, pool of newspaper subscribers.”

EXAMPLES OF INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THE INTERNET TODAY

Below are examples of the extensive data that is The Comptroller’s Local Government Warehouse already available online: also displays, for each unit of government, the last three annual audits of the government and, Comptroller for municipalities, any TIF district reports. The application has a feature that allows comparison For units of local governments, the Comptroller’s to another unit of government so a resident can Local Government Warehouse displays three years’ compare, for example, the village’s spending informa on from the Annual Financial Report, to that of a neighboring village. And the including: Comptroller’s Local Government Warehouse allows a researcher to download the entire file for • Assets all governments in Illinois. • Audit Requirement and CPA Valida on • Capital Spending The Comptroller produces, from this informa on, • Component Units an annual Fiscal Responsibility Report Card with a • Contact Informa on stated goal of “increasing government transparency • Debt Limita ons and improving accountability measures.” The • Expenditures report card looks at revenues, spending, debt, fund • Fund Balances balances and more for the various units of local • Fund Spending government, providing the reader perspec ve on • Indebtedness where his or her local governments stand. The • Payments to Other Governments 2014 report was 86 pages long, and had reported • Pension/Re rement Benefi ts Status 99.5 percent compliance with the required fi ling. • Popula on/EAV/Employees (See h p://ledger.illinoiscomptroller.com/ledger/ • Repor ng assets/File/ReportCard/ReportCard2014.pdf). • Revenue In sum, we fi nd that local governments devote (See h p://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/). considerable eff ort to providing informa on about their opera ons. The worksheet for the Annual Financial Report local governments must fi ll out annually contains approximately 1,500 separate data items each year.

Page 4 Local Government Disclosure Requirements Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) • Statements of Revenues Received/ Revenues (All Funds) While the Comptroller’s Warehouse has some high • Statements of Expenditures Disbursed/ level informa on by school district, much more Expenditures Budget to Actual (All informa on – all of it provided by school districts to Funds) the State Board of Educa on (ISBE) – is published on • Supplementary Schedules the ISBE website, (See h p://www.isbe.net/sfms/ • Federal S mulus - American Recovery html/fi nancial_archive.htm ) including the Annual and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Schedule Statement of Aff airs that school districts are required • Schedule of Ad Valorem Tax Receipts to publish. Salary ranges for all employees and a • Schedule of Short-Term Debt/Long-Term lis ng of each payment for goods and services over Debt $500 are posted. • Schedule of Restricted Local Tax Levies and Selected Revenue Sources Besides the Annual Statement of Aff airs, the ISBE • Schedule of Tort Immunity Expenditures website has, again for each school district, the • Sta s cal Sec on annual fi nancial report that includes a fi nancial • Schedule of Capital Outlay and profi le, measure of assets and liabili es, 274 lines on Deprecia on a spreadsheet of revenues, by fund, and 355 lines of • Es mated Opera ng Expenditures Per expenditures. (See h p://www.isbe.net/sfms/html/ Pupil and Per Capita Tui on Charge fi nancial_archive.htm). There is also a breakdown of Computa on the property tax levy by fund. • Es mated Indirect Cost Rate for Federal Programs The website also includes a number of reports • Report on Shared Services or Outsourcing compiled by ISBE staff from the informa on provided • Administra ve Cost Worksheet by school districts that allow the ci zen to compare • Reference Page the school district with other school districts on • Defi cit Reduc on Calcula on areas of interest like opera ng expense per pupil, • Audit Balancing Schedule per capita tui on charges, gradua on rates, dropout • A-133 Single Audit Sec on rates, numbers of teachers, etc. A large amount of • Annual Federal Compliance Report school performance data also is included. State Board of Elections The fi nancial informa on for school districts available on the Illinois State Board of Educa on’s The Illinois State Board of Elec ons tracks website is even more detailed than that for other contribu ons to poli cal candidates and puts local governments in the Comptroller’s Warehouse their required fi lings online in a centralized and includes: and searchable format so that the general • Auditor’s Ques onnaire public can track who is making or has made • Financial Profi le Informa on contribu ons to a local elected offi cial. (See • Financial Profi le Summary h ps://www.elec ons.il.gov/campaigndisclosure/ • Basic Financial Statements contribu onssearchbyallcontribu ons.aspx). The • Statement of Assets and Liabili es State Board of Elec ons has the legal authority to Arising from Cash Transac ons/ enforce repor ng of campaign contribu ons. Statement of Posi on • Statement of Revenues Received/ Secretary of State Revenues, Expenditures Disbursed/ Expenditures, Other The Secretary of State registers lobbyists and tracks • Sources (Uses) and Changes in Fund their spending (See h ps://www.cyberdriveillinois. Balances (All Funds) com/departments/index/lobbyist/home.html).

Local Government Disclosure Requirements Page 5 The informa on is retained in a centralized Department of Transporta on allocates the motor and searchable format that the public can fuel tax and posts alloca ons available for coun es, use to access both lobbyists retained by municipali es and road districts, along with the local governments and spending by those funds shared with local transporta on systems (See lobbyists. Through its licensing process, the h p://www.idot.illinois.gov/transporta on-system/ Secretary of State has the legal authority to local-transporta on-partners/county-engineers- enforce repor ng. and-local-public-agencies/m -distribu on/index). Both the Department of Transporta on and the Departments of Revenue and Department of Revenue are charged by law to Transportation distribute these monies appropriately and the reports they provide are based upon what they do to A signifi cant part of the taxes that the fulfi ll that obliga on. Department of Revenue collects each year are either done on behalf of or shared with units Besides the state and local taxes, the Department of local government. The IDOR website has an of Revenue has extensive informa on on property applica on that provides all tax rates for state- taxes including, for each taxing district in Illinois, administered taxes in any municipality (and both the assessed value by class of property and even within that municipality in the case of property taxes extended by fund (See h p:// business districts). See h ps://www.revenue. www.revenue.state.il.us/AboutIdor/TaxStats/ state.il.us/app/trii/. The website also iden fi es PropertyTaxStats/2014/). The Department of how much income, sales, replacement and Revenue is charged by law with providing this telecommunica ons taxes are collected by sta s cal informa on and collects, collates and the department and shared with or returned refi nes the data it publishes. to specifi c municipali es and coun es. The

VOLUMINOUS INTERNET EXAMPLES

Most of the informa on that proposed legisla on would require local governments to put on their websites is fi nancial data. To give the reader an apprecia on of the amount of data already provided by local governments, we have included screen prints of fi nancial data already posted on the Internet for two local governments. The pos ngs are so large that we put them in separate appendices so they would not interrupt the fl ow of this report. The governments are:

From the Illinois Comptroller’s Warehouse, the City of Springfi eld, in Appendix B.

From the Illinois State Board of Educa on’s website for Wheaton CUSD 200, in Appendix C.

Page 6 Local Government Disclosure Requirements REDUNDANCY IN PROPOSED LEGISLATION

As we have observed, requirements in various bills seeking to mandate Internet publica on on units of local government duplicate informa on already available. In these cases, local taxpayers will pay twice to disclose the same informa on. What follows are fi ve examples (there are many more) of proposed local government Internet-pos ng mandates paired with screen shots that illustrate the informa on is already available:

EXAMPLE A Proposed Internet posƟ ng requirement: “Total Pension Liability” Example: Urbana 2015 informa on is illustrated for three of the city’s pension systems, Police, Fire and IMRF, from the Comptroller’s Warehouse. The legislaƟ on is redundant.

URBANA CITY Pension Funds / Retirement Benefi ts Field Description IMRF Police Pension Fire Pension (Code) Report in Whole Numbers 2012 2013 2014 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 Actuarial Valua on 12/31/2012 12/31/2013 12/31/2014 6/30/2013 6/30/2014 6/30/2015 6/30/2013 6/30/2014 6/30/2015 Date (500) Total Pension Liability / Actuarial Accrued 29,418,581 28,837,834 56,932,200 45,058,874 47,238,793 50,604,149 42,335,397 43,931,004 46,725,593 Liability (501) Total Funded Pension / Actuarial Value of 20,887,296 21,548,985 50,311,493 30,673,996 33,860,394 34,517,135 36,471,176 40,740,802 42,196,016 Assets (502) Total Unfunded Pension Liability 8,531,285 7,288,849 6,620,707 14,384,878 13,378,399 16,087,014 5,864,221 3,190,202 4,529,577 (503) Funded Ra o (504) 71 74.7 88.4 68.1 71.7 68.2 86.1 92.7 90.3 Net Pension Obliga on / Net 103,160 103,160 6,620,707 -5,179,167 13,378,399 16,087,014 -2,386,316 3,190,202 4,529,577 OPEB Obliga on (505)

Local Government Disclosure Requirements Page 7 EXAMPLE B Proposed Internet posƟ ng requirement: “Revenues should be broken out by source, including the broad categories of local, state and federal tax dollars.” Example: In the Comptroller’s Warehouse, three years’ of detailed revenue data is available. The example that follows from Quincy shows only the general funds and demonstrates that more detailed informa on is already available in the Illinois Comptroller’s Warehouse, making this requirement redundant.

QUINCY CITY CURRENTLY VIEWING 2015 2015 2014 2013 Enter all Amounts in Whole General 225b Public Welfare 26,838 Numbers 225c Health and/or Hospitals 0 Report 225d Streets and Highways 49,784 Local Taxes in Whole Numbers 225e Culture and Recrea on 0 201t Property Tax 49,496 225f Housing/Comm. Development 0 202t Local Sales Tax 9,516,492 225g Water Supply System 0 203t U li es Tax 456,612 225h Electric/Gas Power System 0 203a Electric U li es 0 225i Mass Transit 0 203b Water U li es 0 225j Other (Explain) 0 203c Communica ons U li es 439,226 226t Other Intergovernmental 0 Sources (Explain) 203d Other U li es (Explain) 17,386 Other Sources 204t Other Taxes (Explain) 0 231t Licenses and Permits 422,873 Intergovernmental Receipts & Grants 233t Fines and Forfeitures 486,606 211t State Income Tax 3,979,377 234t Charges for Services 502,318 212t State Sales Tax 10,357,647 234a Water U li es 0 213t State Motor Fuel Tax 0 234b Gas U li es 0 214t State Replacement Tax 1,257,261 234c Electric U li es 0 205t State Gaming Tax(es) 169,029 234d Transit U li es 0 215t Other State Sources (Explain) 36,497 234e Sewer U li es 0 215a General Support 0 234f Refuse and Disposal Charges 0 215b Public Welfare 0 234g Parking 4,575 215c Health and/or Hospitals 0 215d Streets and Highways 13,713 234h Housing 47,464 215e Culture and Recrea on 0 234i Highway or Bridge Tolls 0 215f Housing/Comm. Development 11,200 234j Culture and Recrea on 0 215g Water Supply System 0 234k Other (Explain) 450,279 215h Electric/Gas Power System 0 235t Interest 16,828 215i Mass Transit 0 236t Miscellaneous (Explain) 620,124 215j Other (Explain) 11,584 240t Total Receipts and Revenue 27,950,339 225t Federal Sources 79,179 225a General Support 2,557

Page 8 Local Government Disclosure Requirements EXAMPLE C Proposed Internet posƟ ng requirement: “Expenditures should be separated into current opera ng, capital and debt service.” Example: From the Comptroller’s Warehouse, expenditures in the Village of Chatham illustrate an even fi ner breakdown of spending, including special revenue, enterprise revenue, internal service, fi duciary and revenue for component units of the local government. This requirement is redundant.

CHATHAM VILLAGE 2015 2014 2013 Disbursements, Expenditures and Expenses Discretely Presented Special Capital Debt Internal Component Code General Revenue Project Service Enterprise Service Fiduciary Units Report in Whole Numbers Total 270t Expenditures/ 4,066,870 534,699 1,889,055 125,400 14,627,246 0 222,809 0 Expense

EXAMPLE D Legisla on was introduced to impose internet pos ng requirements for “reports required under the Tax Increment Alloca on Redevelopment Act.”

Example: In the Comptroller’s warehouse, municipali es which have TIF districts are already required to provide copies of their annual reports to the Comptroller each year. For Pekin, there are two reports displayed for 2015:

Finances At Your Fingertips TIF Reports • View Pekin’s AFR TIF Districts for FY 2015 • Compare Pekin’s Data Industrial Conservation Park Area TIF • TIF Reports TIF Central Bus. Dist. • Annual Audits The 29-page report for the Central Business District TIF District is available to residents of Pekin (and anyone else) by simply clicking on the link. The proposed legislaƟ on is redundant.

Local Government Disclosure Requirements Page 9 EXAMPLE E Proposed Internet posƟ ng requirement: “gross tax levy for the most recent year”

Example: From the Illinois State Board of Educa on’s website for Rochester Community Unit School District 3A, the previous year’s and current year’s levies by individual fund provides signifi cantly more detail than required by the legisla on, making the legislaƟ on redundant.

SCHEDULE OF AD VALOREM TAX RECEIPTS Taxes Received 7-1-13 Thru Total 6-30-14 Taxes Taxes EsƟ mated EsƟ mated (from 2012 Received Received Taxes (from Taxes Due Levy & Prior (from the (from 2012 & the 2013 (from the DescripƟ on Levies) * 2013 Levy) Prior Levies) Levy) 2013 Levy) (Column B - C) (Column E - C) Educa onal 5,426,185 5,426,185 5,717,585 5,717,585 Opera ons & Maintenance 1,804,056 1,804,056 1,755,643 1,755,643 Debt Services ** 2,263,591 2,263,591 2,358,568 2,358,568 Transporta on 483,727 483,727 501,577 501,577 Municipal Re rement 326,032 326,032 313,393 313,393 Capital Improvements 0 0 0 Working Cash 120,931 120,931 120,044 120,044 Tort Immunity 0 0 0 Fire Preven on & Safety 0 0 0 Leasing Levy 0 0 0 Special Educa on 96,745 96,745 100,365 100,365 Area Voca onal Construc on 0 0 0 Social Security/Medicare Only 326,032 326,032 313,393 313,393 Summer School 0 0 0 Other (Describe & Itemize) 0 0 0 Totals 10,847,299 0 10,847,299 11,180,568 11,180,568

Page 10 Local Government Disclosure Requirements A COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION TO THE TRANSPARENCY/REDUNDANCY DILEMMA

Much of the informa on these new legisla ve proposals seek to have added to local governments’ websites already exists on various state agency websites. The informa on, typically provided by local governments, is ve ed, standardized and presented all in one place. The state agencies, which need the data to do their jobs, report high compliance rates by local governments, certainly a more cost-eff ec ve means of gathering data than the threat of ci zen lawsuits envisioned by the “transparency” legisla on.

Transparency could be enhanced by having local governments iden fy on their websites, using statutory determined language, where this informa on is available. Or, legisla on could require local governments to add links from their own websites to the exis ng state agency websites, enhancing transparency while minimizing addi onal costs. State government illustrates how this could be done. When a visitor clicks on the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal’s lis ngs for Tax Expenditures, State Contract Database and Annual Financial Reports for Local Government Units, the visitor is linked to the Illinois Comptroller’s website. The major websites that local government could reference in standardized verbiage on their website or link directly to would be the Illinois Comptroller, Secretary of State, State Board of Elec ons, State Board of Educa on, Department of Revenue and Department of Transporta on.

OBSERVATIONS ON CUSTOMER FOCUS

One of the themes that the authors have “ . . . (the) approach typifi ed by come across in conduc ng this research the nascent and ambi ous plan by is the need to present data in a way that the Obama administra on to make is useful for the ci zen who is seeking vast amounts of government data the informa on. The Comptroller’s Local available through the www.data.gov Government Warehouse, together with their site. These types of transparency Annual Fiscal Responsibility Report Card, ini a ves are directed toward the seem to us to refl ect a balance between large more technically inclined ci zen; amounts of data and placement of that data researchers, technologists and in a context that is useful to the user. civic-minded geeks. . . . (but) to truly “democra ze the data” A report in Government Informa on would ul mately require a be er, Quarterly talks about how to make data more conscious eff ort to make available, specifi cally, this ini a ve more inclusive and par cipatory to all ci zens.”5

Local Government Disclosure Requirements Page 11 Conclusions

All governments – including Illinois local governments – will need to fi nd ways to use emerging technologies to connect with their ci zens. If their resources are ed up mee ng redundant requirements, they will have diffi culty mee ng that challenge. Specifi cally, we fi nd that:

 Advocates for website transparency have given Illinois’ state and local governments high marks for transparency in what they already provide on their websites.

 There are many requirements for local government “transparency-related” repor ng, including 571 state statutory requirements for 763 pos ngs in either a public place, a newspaper or on a website. (Some requirements involve mul ple pos ngs.) We judge that 61 of these requirements involved signifi cant eff ort (i.e., cost to taxpayers) on the part of the local government.

 There is a tremendous amount of data about local governments published on state government websites already. This is data that state agencies obtain from units of local government as part of their regular du es.

 Our research indicates that much of the informa on required by proposed legisla on is already posted. More informa on does not assure more transparency. This is par cularly true with respect to newspaper publica on requirements because newspaper circula on is in decline. Redundancy does, however, assure higher costs as in the case of newspaper publica ons.

 Legisla on adding or changing current publica on requirements for units of local government should be driven by sta s cally reliable documenta on based on ci zen par cipa on iden fying gaps in current informa on and then refi ned using cost-benefi t analyses to determine best use of taxpayers’ dollars.

Page 12 Local Government Disclosure Requirements APPENDICES A, B and C: Available at h p://iml.org/page.cfm?key=16572

ENDNOTES

1 h p://sunshinereview.org/images/0/06/2013_Transparency_Report_Card.pdf, accessed December 23. 2 Pew Research Center, Journalism and the Media, www.journalism.org, accessed Dec. 31, 2015. 3 Rick Edmonds, h p://www.poynter.org/2012/new-threat-to-classifi eds-as-newspapers-legal-no ce- franchise-comes-under-fresh-pressure-from-cash-strapped-states/161539/, accessed Feb. 14, 2016 4 “Insult to Injury: The disappearance of public no ces in US newspapers,” Ma hew Weber, h ps:// fundingthenews.usc.edu/fi les/2015/07/6_Carnegie_PublicNo ce.pdf, accessed Feb. 14, 2016, 5 “Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and an -corrup on tools for socie es,” John C. Bertot, Paul T. Jaeger, Jus n M. Grimes, Government Informa on Quarterly, April 27, 2010.

Local Government Disclosure Requirements A REPORT COMMISSIONED BY A CONSORTIUM OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATIONS

By Natalie Davila, Mike Klemens and Kara Moretto KDM Consulting, Inc.

March 15, 2016