ANNAPOLIS (Jan. 7, 2009) – Governor Martin O’Malley announced the launch of a new state website today aimed at providing public accountability for state spending. The website, created and maintained entirely with Maryland Department of Information Technology (DoIT) resources and staff, provides a searchable format which displays state payment data, capturing the name of the payee receiving payment, location of the payee by zip code, amount of the payment and the name of the state agency making the payment.
“This new tool will allow the public to see first-hand where tax dollars are spent, ushering in a new era of government accountability and transparency to Annapolis that has become a hallmark of our Administration,” said Governor O’Malley. “Our goal from the beginning was to make government work again for the people it serves, and this important website serves as another step toward that end.”
The Maryland Funding Accountability website is a public website which allows citizens of Maryland and visitors to search and view summary information on payments made to vendors that received $25,000 or more for the respective fiscal year. Currently, information contained on the website is for Fiscal Year 2008, which began July 1, 2007 and ends June 30, 2008.
“The new funding accountability and transparency website provided the Department of Information Technology with an opportunity to support one of Governor O’Malley’s priorities to restore fiscal responsibility to State government,” said Elliot Schlanger, Maryland Secretary of Information Technology. “The website, which was developed with internal resources, serves as a view into the State’s ‘check register’ to allow constituents the ability to see how their dollars are being spent. DoIT has crafted the website to be easy-to-use and intuitively navigable.”
The website was originally created by House Bill 358 in the 2008 legislative session and applies to all units of the Executive branch. It can be directly accessed at http://www.spending.dbm.maryland.gov/ .
Source: Gov. O'Malley's Office