HARRISBURG - In a time when budget cuts and debt ceilings may make government-spending decisions seem ever more impenetrable, the State of Pennsylvania wants to make it easier for taxpayers to monitor how their tax dollars are being spent.
Starting in 2013, individuals will be able to search a single online database to see what the state pays their senator's secretary, or the amount spent to repave a highway, which agency spent it, and who beat out their brother's construction firm for the contract.
These are just a few examples of what will be available on a new website, PennWATCH, that will offer spending information from all three branches of state government as well as agencies such as the Gaming Control Board and the Turnpike Commission.
PennWATCH is the latest move by the legislature to increase transparency in a state government that for years has received failing marks in this area and has been plagued by one corruption scandal after another.
Pennsylvanians "want to see what we're spending their hard-earned tax money on," said Rep. Jim Christiana (R., Beaver), the author of the PennWATCH legislation. His bill passed unanimously in both legislative chambers, with support from Gov. Corbett and House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny).
The bill was approved at the end of June, as lawmakers rushed to finish the budget and wrap up their work before their summer break.
Christiana said the website, which is projected to cost about $2.25 million to create and $200,000 annually to maintain and update, will help rebuild public trust: "We heard about no-bid contracts for $6 million. . . . That shows why we needed transparency in our budget and in our spending processes."
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 24 other states already offer such databases. At New Jersey's website, Transparency Center, users can search for everything from agency expenditures to employee salaries (including overtime) and property taxes.
Comparatively, Pennsylvania now has only a government-contract database maintained by the Treasury Department, although users have complained it is not intuitive and does not provide much detail. Residents can try to ferret out much of the data that will be available on PennWATCH - but must traipse from department to department to get it. The new database is intended to provide a virtual one-stop-shopping government experience.
The existing system, said Christiana, "was great in theory, but unless people were going to drive to Harrisburg and pay for tolls and gas . . . and copies," much of the data was inaccessible, he said.
Barry Kauffman, who heads the Pennsylvania branch of the nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause, cautioned that PennWATCH would help only if it were easy to use - and not just for "computer geeks."
Dan Egan, spokesman for the Governor's Office of Administration, which will develop the site, said that's the goal: to make the site as easy to use as possible.
Critics point to some things the database won't include: audits of state spending; information on businesses that received state tax credits; records of what officials spend with state-issued credit cards; and the expenditures of the state-related universities, such as Temple and Penn State, which have historically received between 8 percent and 20 percent of their funding from the commonwealth.
Democrats tried to amend these items into the bill, but were shot down by Republicans who control the House. Rep. Babette Josephs (D., Phila.), the ranking Democrat on the Local Government Committee, said she voted for the bill, but wished it had also required reporting how much proposed bills and government programs would cost.
Initially, PennWATCH will show how government agencies spend federal and state money. Job titles, salaries, and other state payroll information will be
The public will also get to see how much state revenue and federal funds landed in the treasury each month. By 2015, information will be added purporting to show how government programs are measuring up to expectations. Stephen Herzenberg, an economist at the nonprofit Keystone Research Center, said that was essential: "You don't just want a list of organizations that got checks - you want to know more about how money was used so that you can evaluate whether it was used well."
Generally speaking, PennWATCH is getting some praise from transparency advocates on both the right and left. Matt Brouillette, head of the libertarian Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, said, "Taxpayers will finally get to see how their money is being spent."
While saying the making of the state budget remains "a closed-door, backroom process," Eric Epstein, founder of the activist group RocktheCapital.com, said PennWATCH "opens the drape to a large political cave."
Epstein emphasized it was only a beginning: "You have to crawl before you can walk."
Contact staff writer Sari Heidenreich at 443-554-9136, sarih1316@gmail.com ,
or @sariheid on Twitter.
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