Evanston 6th in state to earn a 100% on online transparency audit
The Illinois Policy Institute awarded the city of Evanston a Sunshine Award at the city’s Jan. 13 board meeting. By posting everything on the Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-Point Transparency Checklist, Evanston recently became the sixth local taxing body in Illinois to garner a perfect transparency score, joining Kane County, Hanover Township, Orland Park, Lombard and...
The Illinois Policy Institute awarded the city of Evanston a Sunshine Award at the city’s Jan. 13 board meeting.
By posting everything on the Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-Point Transparency Checklist, Evanston recently became the sixth local taxing body in Illinois to garner a perfect transparency score, joining Kane County, Hanover Township, Orland Park, Lombard and Skokie as members in the “100 Percent Club.”
The city of Evanston maintains a transparency page on its website, which includes all of the items listed in the checklist including annual reports, employee compensation and expenditures.
Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl commented on the importance of transparency and the efforts of the city:
“Improving transparency should be at the top of the to-do list for any municipal government. Effective communication not only engages and informs the community, it ultimately improves the effectiveness and efficiency of all city operations. Evanston has made transparency a priority, and we’re pleased to be one of the municipalities leading the state in this effort.”
Online transparency is one of the best tools local governments can use to deter government corruption. But in a state ranked as the third-most corrupt in the nation, far too many of the Illinois’ communities remain in the dark. Only 50 local taxing bodies in Illinois, out of the nearly 7,000, have earned the Institute’s Sunshine Award for scoring an 80 percent or better on the 10-Point Transparency Checklist.
Last year an Institute-inspired comprehensive online transparency bill, House Bill 3312, stalled in the Illinois House after passing the Counties & Townships Committee with bipartisan support. We anticipate a new bill will be filed this year.
Evanston’s work on online transparency helps set an example for other communities in Illinois to follow.
