Transparency Among Virginia Counties

The Sunshine Review, a web site devoted to government transparency at the state and local levels recently evaluated counties and jurisdictions across the United States, in terms of how much open information that is accessible to the public. In Virginia, there were some surprising statistics on how open government was by accounting dealings with lobbyists, expenditures, taxes, and budgets.

In Northern Virginia, several counties had good to mediocre transparency on their websites. Fairfax County has a fairly good record of transparency on their website, as they place the Board of Supervisors’ contact information and term dates listed. Additionally, there are lists of previous budgets, county board agendas, bid requests, county contracts, as well as places where you can make tax payments to the county. However, it lacks in listing department officials’ contact information or any lobbyists who might be employed by the county. Arlington County also accounts for the same amount of transparency on their website.

Loudoun County is more open with their dealings on their website, as it lists the same information as Fairfax, and the only thing not listed on their website is the public record. Where Fairfax County does not list department officials’ contact information or lobbyists who petition on behalf of the county, Loudoun County makes this information accessible.

Both Prince William County and the City of Alexandria have more restrictions on what they list on their sites. Lobbying affiliations are not mentioned, and both governments list their budgets, contact information for their elected officials and department heads, audits are available, and FOIA filing instructions are prominently displayed.

Overall, the Northern Virginia counties all have good transparency measures in place. There is still more work that needs to be done to ensure full transparency is available to the taxpayers. While Northern Virginia leads the Commonwealth in transparency, Virginia is still better than some of our neighboring states, when it comes down to transparency and accountability.

**Cross Posted at Crystal Clear Conservative