By Chris Andriesen
05/08/2012
The problem In fiscal year 2011, the state handed out more than $1.1 billion to nonprofit organizations across the state in the form of 1,636 grants. While taxpayers can access online how much money was spent on these grants, it’s difficult for them to find out what the grants were for and if the grants...
By Brian Costin
04/11/2012
Peoria, Ill. (April 11, 2012) – Ten out of eleven government agencies in the Peoria-area received failing grades in an online transparency audit conducted by local citizen activists and the Illinois Policy Institute. Members of the Peoria 9/12 group worked with the Institute to grade local government websites on how much public data is readily...
Illinois state government owes more than $83 billion to the pension plans it operates for retired employees; servicing this obligation is crippling the state
By Mark Cavers
03/30/2012
On Thursday, the Illinois Senate passedAi??a bill sponsored by Senator Brady that would compile information on employee characteristics, compensation and mobility. Cheap compazine side This is an important piece of legislation because approximately one-third of the stateai??i??s budget goes towards compensation. Yet, simple top-line data on the labor forceAi??is very difficult and in some instances...
By Mark Cavers
09/28/2011
The Illinois Policy Institute recently completed aAi??local government transparency projectAi??focused on government units in McLean County, Illinois. The results range from high scores of 87.5 to a low score of 5.625. To see how the scores breakdown,Ai??click here for the full scorecard Paroxetine withdrawal treatment Ai??or see the table below. Bloomington Public School District 87Ai??andAi??McLean...
by Mark Cavers The Village of Orland Park scored a perfect 100% on a local government transparency audit conducted by the Illinois Policy Institute last week. Under the proactive leadership of Mayor Dan McLaughlin, Trustee Jim Dodge, Village Manager Paul Grimes, Deputy Clerk Joe La Margo and Senior Secretary Nancy Melinauskas, the Village of Orland Park became the first...
By Brian Costin
08/22/2011
Over the past three months, the Illinois Policy Institute has been working with 16 government entities in Lyons Township to the implement transparency best-practices as part of our local government transparency project. The Institute just completed a second round of audits on the local governments; this is an important benchmark for checking progress. You can see the...
by Mark Cavers Over the past three months, the Illinois Policy Institute has been working with 16 government entities in Lyons Township to the implement transparency best-practices as part of our local government transparency project. The Institute just completed a second round of audits on the local governments; this is an important benchmark for checking progress. You...
By Brian Costin
06/15/2011
CHICAGO (June 15, 2011) — The city of Evanston scored the highest of five Evanston-area governments in the latest leg of the Illinois Policy Institute’s “Local Transparency Project,” which grades governments on the availability to the public of vital community information. The city earned a score of 91.7 out of 100 possible points for making...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson In December, the Menard Correctional Center became infamous after theBelleville News-Democrat revealed almost $10 million in workers’ compensation paid out to more than half the staff of the facility. The high incident of workers’ compensation claims have prompted multiple investigations at the federal and state level, and the increased scrutiny of the claims has resulted in...
