CHICAGO - Breaking through Illinois' reputation for dark political dealings, six local governing agencies reached a 100% rating in online transparency, the Illinois Policy Institute announced last week. The six included:
During Sunshine Week 2014, the Illinois Policy Institute recognized 38 agencies for earning their Sunshine Award for excellence in online transparency. So far this year, the number of Sunshine Award winners is up to 61 – a 60 percent increase.
Over the past year, the Institute partnered with dozens of local taxing bodies across the state of Illinois through our Local Transparency Project, helping them achieve excellence in online transparency by adopting recommendations from our 10-Point Transparency Checklist.
These governments:
- Make available contact information for elected officials and senior administrators
- Account for how taxpayer dollars are being spent by opening finances to the public
- Use proactive online transparency to prevent and expose government corruption
- Encourage citizens to take an active, educated role in the local government decision-making process
A full list of Sunshine Award winners as of March 27, 2014 is HERE.
