Kentucky at Work Web site previously rated 47th in the country

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A national report released this week shows “soaring” improvement in Kentucky’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) transparency Web site, Kentucky at Work, which is now ranked number two in the country in terms of fiscal openness and accountability.

The report, Show Us the Stimulus (Again), was released by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research center based in Washington, D.C. It compares all 50 states on how well they track federal recovery spending and promote government accountability. Kentucky’s new ranking is a remarkable improvement to a similar study that was published in July 2009 in which Kentucky ranked 47th.

“It is an honor to have Kentucky at Work recognized for the great effort we’ve put into creating a site that shows the public where these tax dollars are being spent,” said Governor Steve Beshear.  “More importantly, we were able to improve our ranking over 48 other states using only existing staff and no additional resources.  This accomplishment is an example of how we can continue to improve the services provided to citizens while running a government as lean and efficient as possible.”

This elite national ranking demonstrates that Kentucky continues to make tremendous strides in transparency and openness.  Kentucky’s Open Door (OpenDoor.KY.gov) –the state’s Web hub for detailed information on government spending, budgets, contracts, and employee salaries—underwent dramatic improvements last fall to make the site more user friendly, including improved search engines, expanding the depth of financial information available, and providing daily updates for state spending records, at no additional cost to taxpayers. Just two weeks ago, Open Door was dramatically expanded to include expenditure records from Kentucky’s judicial branch.

“This is a highlight for the Beshear Administration’s ongoing commitment to transparency and openness in government,” said Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller. “The Open Door Web site began our efforts with an unprecedented level of fiscal openness for the executive, and now judicial branches. We are proud to have carried that over to the Kentucky at Work Web site for stimulus funding.”

The study evaluated the effectiveness of each state’s site in conveying information about: the categories of stimulus spending; the distribution of recovery dollars throughout the state; and the details of specific projects funded by ARRA grants and contracts, including employment impact.

Based on a scale of 0 to 100, the average state score is 44 and the median is 42.  Kentucky scored 85, second only to Maryland, which scored an 87.

“Some states are making great strides in fulfilling President Obama’s promise that the Recovery Act would be carried out with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability,” said Good Jobs First Executive Director Greg LeRoy. “We are impressed by ‘Cinderella’ states such as Kentucky and Illinois, which were ranked at the bottom in our previous assessment but broke into the top tier in the new ranking.”

Illinois, which is now ranked 7th, placed last of all 50 states in the initial report.

Kentucky was recognized as one of only three states to show the geographic distribution of spending compared to distress or need.  Kentucky at Work’s interactive map can display icons showing overall stimulus spending by county against a backdrop of color-coded county rates of unemployment or poverty.

The Commonwealth received a perfect score for disclosure on individual grants and contracts derived through ARRA stimulus dollars.  Sites were judged by the inclusion of: the description of contract/grant projects; the dollar amount of the contract or grant; the name of the recipient entity (whether government agency, for-profit contractor or other); the text of the contract or grant document; and the status of the project.

The full text of the report, as well as an appendix for each state’s evaluation, can be found at www.goodjobsfirst.org/stimulusweb.cfm.  The Web address for Kentucky’s ARRA transparency site is http://kentuckyatwork.ky.gov/.