ALBANY - A new Web site allows New Yorkers to find out how the state, local governments and schools spend taxpayer money and how elected representatives use public funds to cover their expenses.
The Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute think tank, unveiled www.SeeThroughNY.net Thursday. It can help New Yorkers find out how much the politicians in their district spend on travel expenses, long distance phone calls, or even how much their leased office space costs taxpayers.
The site offers searchable databases for the entire payroll of more than 200,000 state government employees - cross referenced by name, title, branch of government and agency.
“We pay them, we have a right to know what we pay them,” said E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center.
New Yorkers can also find out about the contracts that the powerful teachers' unions have negotiated - as well as school superintendent contracts - for nearly all of New York state's 733 school and BOCES districts.
The site will make it easier to follow the operating expenditures of both chambers of the state Legislature and to view politicians' pork-barrel spending - or member items - for the 2008-2009 fiscal year, McMahon said.
The idea was to create a user-friendly database to show how tax money is used and who benefits. The information was always available through Freedom of Information Law requests, but the site puts it in a form that's easy to use, McMahon said.
“SeeThroughNY is a powerful new tool that New Yorkers can use to hold their elected leaders accountable for the hard-earned tax dollars entrusted to them every year,” said Elizabeth Lynam, deputy research director of the Citizens Budget Commission, an independent fiscal and government watchdog group.
The site doesn't include income details for employees at public authorities - but they will probably be added in the future.
The think tank plans to eventually add more data, including additional payrolls, expenditures, contracts and other information, McMahon said.
So far, the Empire Center has spent about $5,000 just on postage and paying to have FOIL documents produced.
On the Net
http://www.empirecenter.org/
The site offers searchable databases for the entire payroll of more than 200,000 state government employees - cross referenced by name, title, branch of government and agency.
“We pay them, we have a right to know what we pay them,” said E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center.
New Yorkers can also find out about the contracts that the powerful teachers' unions have negotiated - as well as school superintendent contracts - for nearly all of New York state's 733 school and BOCES districts.
The site will make it easier to follow the operating expenditures of both chambers of the state Legislature and to view politicians' pork-barrel spending - or member items - for the 2008-2009 fiscal year, McMahon said.
The idea was to create a user-friendly database to show how tax money is used and who benefits. The information was always available through Freedom of Information Law requests, but the site puts it in a form that's easy to use, McMahon said.
“SeeThroughNY is a powerful new tool that New Yorkers can use to hold their elected leaders accountable for the hard-earned tax dollars entrusted to them every year,” said Elizabeth Lynam, deputy research director of the Citizens Budget Commission, an independent fiscal and government watchdog group.
The site doesn't include income details for employees at public authorities - but they will probably be added in the future.
The think tank plans to eventually add more data, including additional payrolls, expenditures, contracts and other information, McMahon said.
So far, the Empire Center has spent about $5,000 just on postage and paying to have FOIL documents produced.
On the Net
http://www.empirecenter.org/
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