Shenandoah Only ‘A’ Grade In Central Valley
County Commended For User-Friendly Site
Posted: January 21, 2013
WOODSTOCK — As part of a statewide study by an independent group, Shenandoah County was the only locality in the region — and one of only 17 in Virginia — to receive a grade of “A” for budget transparency.
The Virginia Coalition for Open Government conducted the study, the results of which were released earlier this week, in cooperation with the Watson Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.
The VCOG is a nonprofit organization that champions citizen access to public records, meetings and judicial proceedings.
The results came as a surprise to Shenandoah County officials. County Administrator Doug Walker said Tuesday they were not aware the study had been taking place.
“We are pleased that an independent entity recognized us,” said Walker.
Grades for Virginia’s 134 counties and independent cities ranged from A to F. Shenandoah County received 47 out of a possible 50 points.
CNU students in Quentin Kidd’s classes collected the data in October, which was a full three months after the 2012-2013 budget should have been implemented.
This was the first time the organization attempted to study budget transparency. Data collection was done via a series of questions. The study measured the number of clicks it took to access a budget document on a government’s website, as well as how comprehensive the document was and how easy each website was to navigate.
Two students evaluated each locality and if there was a point of disagreement, a third evaluator and supervisor were assigned to reconcile it.
“You start on the home page. Then you ask, ‘Is there a direct link to the budget? Yes or no?’” Kidd said.
Each answer then led to more questions.
Local government budgets were the object of the evaluation because they are, according Kidd, is “the heart of governance.”
“[They include] everything that citizens would care about or might want to know about. You could care about neighborhood watch association or parks but ultimately it’s the budget that makes those accessible and available and usable,” he said. “Budgets reflect taxes we pay and how open the government is about how those taxes are spent.”
Study documents indicated that the majority of localities had the current budget available, but many did not.
Garland Miller, finance director for Shenandoah County said he makes every effort to post budget information as soon as it’s available and to have it accessible from the website home page.
“We’ve been doing this for years,” he said. “We certainly try [to make the information user-friendly] and we look at other counties and see what they do.”
Contact Kaitlin Mayhew at 574-6290 or kmayhew@dnronline.com
The Virginia Coalition for Open Government conducted the study, the results of which were released earlier this week, in cooperation with the Watson Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.
The VCOG is a nonprofit organization that champions citizen access to public records, meetings and judicial proceedings.
The results came as a surprise to Shenandoah County officials. County Administrator Doug Walker said Tuesday they were not aware the study had been taking place.
“We are pleased that an independent entity recognized us,” said Walker.
Grades for Virginia’s 134 counties and independent cities ranged from A to F. Shenandoah County received 47 out of a possible 50 points.
CNU students in Quentin Kidd’s classes collected the data in October, which was a full three months after the 2012-2013 budget should have been implemented.
This was the first time the organization attempted to study budget transparency. Data collection was done via a series of questions. The study measured the number of clicks it took to access a budget document on a government’s website, as well as how comprehensive the document was and how easy each website was to navigate.
Two students evaluated each locality and if there was a point of disagreement, a third evaluator and supervisor were assigned to reconcile it.
“You start on the home page. Then you ask, ‘Is there a direct link to the budget? Yes or no?’” Kidd said.
Each answer then led to more questions.
Local government budgets were the object of the evaluation because they are, according Kidd, is “the heart of governance.”
“[They include] everything that citizens would care about or might want to know about. You could care about neighborhood watch association or parks but ultimately it’s the budget that makes those accessible and available and usable,” he said. “Budgets reflect taxes we pay and how open the government is about how those taxes are spent.”
Study documents indicated that the majority of localities had the current budget available, but many did not.
Garland Miller, finance director for Shenandoah County said he makes every effort to post budget information as soon as it’s available and to have it accessible from the website home page.
“We’ve been doing this for years,” he said. “We certainly try [to make the information user-friendly] and we look at other counties and see what they do.”
Contact Kaitlin Mayhew at 574-6290 or kmayhew@dnronline.com