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Do you have any idea how the city of Fort Collins spends your tax dollars? Shouldn't you?
I don't mean how much we're spending on “departments” or “programs” or “projects” or “offers” with multi-million dollar line items in the city budget. I mean: How much do we spend on the day-to-day operation of government? I mean: How much money are we spending on office supplies, for example? What is the actual dollar amount? Are we getting the best deal from our supplier?
Do you ask the same questions? You should. It's part of the responsibility of living in a representative democracy. (Quick confession: I watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington the other night. Pardon me while I pound away with my “civic duty” gavel.) Every citizen has an obligation to ask the hard questions and keep an eye on the government.
Or maybe you're just overflowing with confidence that government is an efficient and effective well-oiled machine?
Me neither. And no offense to the men and women who work for the city of Fort Collins—almost all of them do a great job and take enormous pride in their work—but I'd be willing to bet that even they would be able to identify some waste and excess within government.
Well, the task of keeping an eye on government just got a lot easier.
Last month, City Councilmember Diggs Brown started asking questions ... spending questions. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get some simple questions answered. So he set out to change the city's expenditure reporting system. He did his own research, put together a proposal, and within a few days had presented—and passed—NoCOST, the Northern Colorado Spending Transparency act. By June 2009, Fort Collins residents will have a way to keep track of how government spends their money. The program will cost less than $10,000 to implement and will most likely pay for itself as ordinary residents help identify cost savings. City contracts that go out to bid will now have greater competition and lower costs: vendors and suppliers will be able to compete for contracts in a transparent marketplace.
“The citizens have a right to know how tax dollars are being spent,” Brown said. “After all, it's their money. Taxpayers need to be confident that there is a high level of transparency and accountability in their municipal government.”
Brown's move garnered him national attention from the Washington-based American Tax Reform, who proclaimed on the “Friends of ATR” blog: “We're Digging It! Fort Collins, CO goes transparent thanks to Diggs Brown.”
“That type of attention certainly wasn't what I set out to accomplish,” said Brown, “but it turns out that the simple act of allowing taxpayers to see what their money is being spent on is kind of revolutionary these days.” Fort Collins is now the first city in Colorado to have such a system in the works, and Brown hopes that other cities, large and small, will follow suit: “This should be a priority at every level of government.”
So, beginning next year, I hope people around Fort Collins will join me in going online and trying to find ways where we can save money and make our government more efficient, more effective and more responsive to the concerns of the taxpayers.
Of course, that type of citizen-generated oversight tends to make elected officials nervous. After all, if you and I begin to dig deep into the city's finances, we might not like what we see. We might demand changes.
That's exactly what Brown had in mind when he proposed NoCOST: “I hope this empowers citizens to become fiscal watchdogs. Remember: it's your money, not ours.”
I don't mean how much we're spending on “departments” or “programs” or “projects” or “offers” with multi-million dollar line items in the city budget. I mean: How much do we spend on the day-to-day operation of government? I mean: How much money are we spending on office supplies, for example? What is the actual dollar amount? Are we getting the best deal from our supplier?
Do you ask the same questions? You should. It's part of the responsibility of living in a representative democracy. (Quick confession: I watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington the other night. Pardon me while I pound away with my “civic duty” gavel.) Every citizen has an obligation to ask the hard questions and keep an eye on the government.
Or maybe you're just overflowing with confidence that government is an efficient and effective well-oiled machine?
Me neither. And no offense to the men and women who work for the city of Fort Collins—almost all of them do a great job and take enormous pride in their work—but I'd be willing to bet that even they would be able to identify some waste and excess within government.
Well, the task of keeping an eye on government just got a lot easier.
Last month, City Councilmember Diggs Brown started asking questions ... spending questions. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get some simple questions answered. So he set out to change the city's expenditure reporting system. He did his own research, put together a proposal, and within a few days had presented—and passed—NoCOST, the Northern Colorado Spending Transparency act. By June 2009, Fort Collins residents will have a way to keep track of how government spends their money. The program will cost less than $10,000 to implement and will most likely pay for itself as ordinary residents help identify cost savings. City contracts that go out to bid will now have greater competition and lower costs: vendors and suppliers will be able to compete for contracts in a transparent marketplace.
“The citizens have a right to know how tax dollars are being spent,” Brown said. “After all, it's their money. Taxpayers need to be confident that there is a high level of transparency and accountability in their municipal government.”
Brown's move garnered him national attention from the Washington-based American Tax Reform, who proclaimed on the “Friends of ATR” blog: “We're Digging It! Fort Collins, CO goes transparent thanks to Diggs Brown.”
“That type of attention certainly wasn't what I set out to accomplish,” said Brown, “but it turns out that the simple act of allowing taxpayers to see what their money is being spent on is kind of revolutionary these days.” Fort Collins is now the first city in Colorado to have such a system in the works, and Brown hopes that other cities, large and small, will follow suit: “This should be a priority at every level of government.”
So, beginning next year, I hope people around Fort Collins will join me in going online and trying to find ways where we can save money and make our government more efficient, more effective and more responsive to the concerns of the taxpayers.
Of course, that type of citizen-generated oversight tends to make elected officials nervous. After all, if you and I begin to dig deep into the city's finances, we might not like what we see. We might demand changes.
That's exactly what Brown had in mind when he proposed NoCOST: “I hope this empowers citizens to become fiscal watchdogs. Remember: it's your money, not ours.”
