Northwest Suburban Governments Fail Transparency Test, District 54 Gets “A”

March 30th, 2010 | by Brian Costin Published in Blog, Features, Transparency

Note: This is the Local Transparency Project I’ve been working on for the last few months for the Illinois Policy Institute. I am excited to see the increases in local government agencies, especially District 54, but as you can see there is still a very long way to go. Barrington & Palatine Township areas are next.

Study Shows 13 of 17 Don’t Make the Grade

CHICAGO – The Illinois Policy Institute has released findings from an audit that reveal a majority of northwest suburban units of government fail to meet basic transparency standards on behalf of the taxpayers. Over a six week period, two separate transparency audits were conducted on ten different online transparency categories including elected and administrative official contacts, meetings, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), budgets, financial audits, expenditures, employee’s salary and benefits, contracts, lobbying, and taxes and fees information. The “Local Transparency Project” identified 13 of 17 units of government within Schaumburg Township that failed.

While the Institute’s audit found several deficiencies, it inspired some to revaluate their practices and make changes. School District 54, which serves K-8 students in Schaumburg Township, achieved the highest score by raising the 37.75 original score up to 90 points in the final audit. Within 48 hours of being notified of the results of the first audit, District 54 placed thousands of pages of documents online.

Last column denotes improvements made in second audit.

Schaumburg Township Scoring	Points out of 100	Grade	Improvement
Passing Agencies
School District 54	90.0	A	52.3
Township High School District 211	82.7	B	55.5
Village of Schaumburg	77.2	C	18.2
Village of Hoffman Estates	63.0	D	11.4
Failing Agencies
Schaumburg Township Library	56.0	F	39
Rolling Meadows Park District	45.5	F	44.3
Village of Hanover Park	40.4	F	5.5
Village of Streamwood	38.5	F	2.5
Village of Roselle	28.6	F	8.5
Village of Elk Grove	28.6	F	NC
Village of Rolling Meadows	26.0	F	4.1
Hoffman Estates Park District	25.8	F	6.8
Schaumburg Township	17.8	F	6
Elk Grove Village Park District	12.5	F	NC
Hanover Park Park District	11.8	F	4.8
Streamwood Park District	10.6	F	4.1
Schaumburg Park District	10.5	F	NC

Average Score	39.1	F	15.5

“Local governments have the responsibility to report how taxpayer funds are being allocated, yet this report reflects that is not happening across the board, said Brian Costin, Director of Outreach at the Illinois Policy Institute. Transparency is a tool citizens can use to root out government corruption, as well as a way find savings in this time economic budget crisis.”

For full details click here

About the Illinois Policy Institute

The Illinois Policy Institute is a nonpartisan research and education organization dedicated to making our state a beacon for liberty and prosperity for all citizens. As a leading voice for economic liberty and government accountability, we engage policy makers, opinion leaders, and citizens on the state and local level by promoting free market principles and liberty-based public policy initiatives for a better Illinois. To learn more about our organization or review our policy briefs, please visit our website at www.illinoispolicy.org.

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