As 2013 comes to a close, state officials can safely say they”™ve taken big steps to increase transparency measures when it comes to the state”™s finances.
In the beginning of the year a new website with details on the state”™s budget and financial forecasts was launched and now officials are working to create another website to publish all of the state”™s economic assistance programs that aim to retain and recruit businesses.
“Since taking office, my administration has implemented some of the most dynamic and effective economic development programs in the nation, including ”” most notably ”” the provisions contained in our 2011 jobs bill that are helping businesses create and retain jobs, expand operations and make new capital investments in the state,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a statement earlier this month. On Dec. 3 he issued an executive order to the Department of Economic and Community Development to publish the economic assistance information online in searchable database by March.
“Connecticut”™s taxpayers have a right to know what their state government is doing to promote economic development and job creation,” Malloy said. “Through this executive order, we will give the public easier access to this information. This directive demonstrates that we are serious about making state government more transparent, more responsive and more efficient to businesses, private citizens and policymakers alike.”
DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith said the department was eager to publish the information. It”™s something they”™ve wanted to do for a long time, she said. DECD publishes an annual report of the loans, grants and tax credits it issues, but for years it was printed in a hardcover book. Slowly they”™ve been digitizing the report, and soon hope to make it downloadable, searchable and easy to access.
“If we had our way we”™d get everything into that format,” Smith said. “It”™s been on our minds for quite some time. We”™re delighted to have the go ahead to do it.”
Since 2011, 1,114 companies have received state assistance, creating 11,817 jobs and retaining another 30,887 jobs. Not including tax credits, the department has issued $475 million in direct assistance, which has leveraged $1.9 billion in private capital, according to a DECD progress report.
The new database will include loan, grant and tax credit recipients”™ names, total employees, the value and type of assistance received, and number of new jobs created.
With the information, residents and policymakers will have the ability to better analyze which companies and industries are receiving assistance, how many jobs have been created and what programs and parts of the state are getting the most attention.
Smith said the database, however, would not include many qualitative details about the deals. For instance, it won”™t provide reasoning behind why one company received a certain dollar amount over another, or analysis on the overall economic impact of individual deals.
Complementing Malloy”™s order, Comptroller Kevin Lembo also recently announced an expansion of the state”™s Open Connecticut budget website, which launched in January.
In addition to information about the state”™s budget, revenue, spending, borrowing, financial forecasts and tax breaks, the website now includes links to financial reports from the state”™s quasi-public agencies.
The agencies ”” such as Access Health CT, Connecticut Innovations and the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority ”” are independent government corporations, designed to perform a specific public service.
“Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being invested, whether it is through a state agency, a quasi-public agency or at the federal and local levels,” Lembo said in a statement. “Open Connecticut will never be complete ”” it will always remain a work in progress as we continue to find new ways to expand access to government data.”
