NPRI NEWS RELEASE
LAS VEGAS — Responding to the launch of TransparentReno.com, a transparency portal featuring the city of Reno’s checkbook spending, 911 log and other public data, Steven Miller, vice president for policy at the Nevada Policy Research Institute, released the following comments:
Citizens fund government, and so they have the right to know how government spends their money. That’s why transparency in government is so important.
By putting its spending checkbook online at TransparentReno.com, the City of Reno has taken a giant step forward, ensuring that its citizens can see exactly how their tax dollars are being spent and who is receiving them. This tool will allow anyone with a computer to monitor and review city finances, greatly improving public accountability for city spending.
Congratulations to the city council and City Manager Andrew Clinger for opening up city finances to the average citizen, for their commitment to transparency and for setting an example that all other government bodies in Nevada should soon follow.
Also exceedingly welcome is the commitment by Reno to place its payroll data online in June, to be kept updated thereafter in real time.
Reno’s site is a model that the state government and other local governments in Nevada should follow. Accordingly, TransparentNevada.com — the open-government website that NPRI hosts as a public service — will provide links to the new City of Reno site.
