State Auditor Glen Gainer III explains how the state’s new transparency website works while Senate President and Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin watches. (Photo/Steven Allen Adams)

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog

CHARLESTON — West Virginia is opening the doors of state government to more sunshine.

Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, acting as governor, and State Auditor Glen Gainer III announced a new transparency website at a press conference Wednesday.

The website, http://transparencywv.org, will put budget and spending information in one place. State agency budgets will all be online and readily available – a first for many state agencies.

In March, the Public Interest Research Group criticized the state’s lack of transparency regarding spending. In response, three months ago the Auditor’s office approached the Acting Governor’s office about creating the website.

“When the Auditor came to me about creating the website, I knew it was an excellent idea,” Tomblin said. “Like any company or business, when you receive a critique, there is always a positive to find out what can be done better. A transparent government is a responsible government, and it’s what the people of our great state deserve.”

“In less than three months we went from a concept to a finished product,” Gainer said. “That only comes from strong leadership and a willingness to work and make ourselves transparent.”

The focuses on three areas: revenue, budgets, and spending. The revenue section allows people to see a 10-year history of revenue collections. Charts will be generated at the top of the page to help people visualize the data. The budget page shows data in a stacked bar chart showing the general revenue budget, the special revenue budget, and federal funds. The spending page allows people to look at state spending down to the agency level and into specific unclassified spending, with data updated every evening. The website also links to vending and contract data.

“What we tried to do is make this very simple and a very navigable site…and one that will allow the user to quickly see how their tax dollars are being spent,” Gainer said. “We believe it’s probably one of the finest transparency sites in the country.”

Watch video from today’s announcement below:

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