Connecticut Follows Every Dollar

Connecticut has developed a World Wide Web site to give taxpayers and policy-makers unprecedented information on how the state spends the money it borrows through bonds.

The new site (www.osc.state.ct.us) provides a searchable database of every bond dollar the state has spent in the past five years. It will be updated each month.

Connecticut began to develop the site for internal use but realized interest in the data extended beyond the statehouse, state comptroller Nancy Wyman said. With $9.4 billion in bonded debt, or $2,800 per resident, "I think the taxpayers deserve to know what is going on," Wyman said.

Likewise, state legislators will be able to use the information as they develop new programs and draft new policies, she said.

Until now, anyone looking for such information had to dig through five years of bond commission agendas and minutes.

State officials said they believe Connecticut citizens will be pleased with what they see. "Most of the projects are really good projects, and they need to understand it," Wyman said.

The state may be opening itself up to criticism, but "I am more concerned that they don't have the information," Wyman said. "If they don't like it, they can...tell their policy-makers."