Utah Transparency Requirements
for State and Local Governments
Presented by: Brenda Lee, Assistant Director
Division of Finance
Utah Department of Administrative Services
1
THE MESSENGER
REQUESTS THAT SHE
PLEASE NOT BE
SHOT.
THANK YOU!
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“The other day I got out my can
opener and was opening a can of
worms when I thought what am I
doing?”
Jack Handy
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• UC 63A-3-402 creates the Utah Public Finance
Website (UPFW)
– Permit taxpayers to view, understand, and track
use of taxpayer dollars on the internet without
paying a fee.
• Statute requires the State and Higher Ed to post
financial information to UPFW.
• Local governments required to post to the UPFW or
their own website.
• Division of Finance to establish & maintain the UPFW
& coordinate & regulate posting by local entities.
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Utah Transparency Advisory Board Permanent Members:
• Chair: John Reidhead, Director Division of Finance,
Department of Administrative Services
• Vice Chair: Senator Wayne Niederhauser
• Representative Kenneth Sumsion
• Jonathan Ball, Legislative Fiscal Analyst
• John Nixon, Executive Director, Governor's Office of
Planning and Budget
• Stephen Fletcher, CIO/Executive Director, Department
of Technology Services
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Three temporary Board Members just recently appointed
by the Governor to represent the following:
• Municipalities: Mia Love, Mayor, Saratoga Springs.
• Counties: Bruce Larsen, Chief Deputy Auditor, Salt
Lake County Auditor’s Office. (Recently resigned.)
• Special & Local Districts: LeGrand Bitter, Executive
Director, Utah Association of Special Districts.
Their terms end June 30, 2011.
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• Utah Transparency Advisory Board (UTAB):
– Advise Finance on implementation and administration
of the website.
– Determine what information shall be provided with a
specified content, reporting frequency, and form.
– Determine search methods and criteria to be used if
entity uses their own website.
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• Utah Transparency Advisory Board (UTAB) continued:
– Evaluate the cost effectiveness of providing certain
information.
– Establish size or budget thresholds to identify those
local entities that will participate in website.
– Give special consideration to those entities with an
annual budget of less than $10 million.
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• The website was operational on May 15, 2009, as
required by statute.
• The State posted revenues and expenses on May 15,
2009 for FY 2009. We have continued to post this
information monthly.
• The State posted employee compensation information in
Sept 2009 and again in Sept of 2010.
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• Must post required information by May 15, 2010:
– Institutions of Higher Education (must use State’s
website)
– School Districts
– Charter Schools
– Public Transit Districts
• Data posted for fiscal year that begins no later than 7/1/09
• Currently 95% of these entities have posted revenue and
expense data.
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• Required to post information by May 15, 2011:
– Counties
– Municipalities
– Local Districts under Title 17B
– Special Service Districts under Title 17D
• Data posted for fiscal year that begins no later than
7/1/10
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• Utah Transparency Board Policies:
– Entities with a current annual budget of <$1 million
are exempt at this time.
– Based on the most recent total annual budget of
either revenues or expenditures, whichever is greater.
– Revenues and expenditures must be submitted at
least quarterly, within one month after fiscal quarter
end.
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“ RIDE THE HORSE IN THE
DIRECTION IT IS GOING.”
Werner Earhard
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• Utah Transparency Board Policies continued:
– Entities must post all detail revenue and expense
transactions from their accounting system including
internal transactions, journal entries, vendor
payments, corrections, adjustments, etc.
– Website summarizes detail and allows drill down and
search through the data by payee name,
organization, category, and fund.
– Board Policies:
• www.transparent.utah.gov
• Resources & Links
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• Utah Transparency Board Policies continued:
– Employee compensation data will be submitted once
each year and within 3 months of fiscal year end and
will include by employee:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Employee name, unless protected under GRAMA
Total benefits only, detail benefits not allowed
Total salary/wages
Total incentive awards
Total leave paid (if recorded separately in entity’s system)
Title
Pay Rate
Gender, unless protected under GRAMA
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Employee data soon to be added:
• Height
• Weight
• Marital status
• Blood type
• Just Kidding!!
16
THE MESSENGER
REQUESTS THAT SHE
PLEASE NOT BE
SHOT.
THANK YOU!
17
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• How the State’s website works:
– Entities don’t need to spend time & money developing
and maintaining another website.
– Each entity uploads their own files using a simple data
submission process.
– Separate administrative website to upload files.
– Admin website is password protected.
– Edits of record count and dollar amount.
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• How the State’s website works – continued:
– Finance has created a spreadsheet template which
simplifies the file creation process for those entities
without IT resources. If they can get data into a
spreadsheet, this template can be used to create the
file for the website.
– Finance staff will work with each entity to help them to
map their data to the website file layout.
– There are 2 test websites, a display website and an
upload website.
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• How the State’s website works – continued:
– Test websites allow for upload of files in a safe test
environment.
– Test websites are password protected, not public
websites.
– Ability to view data on test website and work through
issues.
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• How the State’s website works – continued:
– Ability to delete and re-add test files.
– Flexible data structure, fields can be customized for
each entity.
– Pipe delimited text file ( | ).
– Transparency Board must review and approve use of
entity’s own website.
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• Privacy Concerns
– Shouldn’t send private/protected data sent to website,
except for temporarily protected vendor/payee
names.
– GRAMA UC Title 63G Chapter 2:
• Public records,
• Private records,
• Controlled records,
• Protected records.
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• Privacy Concerns – continued:
– Federal restrictions:
• HIPAA – medical information
• FERPA – student information
• Other state or federal statutes
– Vendor names:
• “Not Provided” – permanently protected
• “Name Redacted” – temporarily protected
– Website has an automated way to protect and
unprotect vendor names.
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• Privacy Concerns – continued:
– Transaction Descriptions
• Filter out private data such as:
– Social security numbers
– Account numbers
– Welfare client names, etc.
– Or use a more generic description
• The State uses lowest level of category
– For example: Office Supplies
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• Demonstration of Website
– Levels of Government
– Entities
– Transaction Types
• Expense (detail from G/L)
• Revenue (detail from G/L)
• Payroll/Employee Compensation (employee data
from payroll system)
• Stimulus Expense (state use only)
• Stimulus Revenue (state use only)
– Fiscal Period
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• Demonstration of Website - continued
– Organization
• Further defines Entity
– Category
• Further defines Transaction Type
– Fund
• Self-balancing set of accounts
– Name Search
• Payee/Customer/Vendor: Used for all Transaction
Types
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• Detail Transaction View
– Posting Date
– Website Upload Date
– Entity Transaction ID
– Transaction Description
– Contract Description
– Contract Number
– Amount
– Email and/or phone number contact
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• Transaction Downloads
– Ability to download into Excel spreadsheet.
– Download currently limited to 10,000 records.
– Larger downloads available upon request.
• Possible Future Development:
– Including detail payment info from subsidiary payment
systems such as MMIS (Medicaid), PACMIS (Dept of
Human Services), etc.
– Loading more contract information and copies of
contracts.
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• Contacts at Finance:
– Darrell Swensen (functional)
• dwensen@utah.gov
• 801-538-3059
– Mary Lee Hickey (technical)
• mhickey@utah.gov
• 801-538-3273
– Brenda Lee (project manager)
• brendalee@utah.gov
• 801-538-3102
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