Caprio unveils R.I. Online Checkbook

PROVIDENCE – R.I. General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio today unveiled what his office described as “the first ever online, real-time Rhode Island state government Web site that allows citizens to see where their tax dollars are being spent.”
The Treasury Online Checkbook “brings Treasury expenditures to the public in a format that’s easily accessible and familiar to anyone who has used online banking,” Caprio said, adding: “We believe firmly that transparency – and the accountability it inspires – are not just good for government, but … for Rhode Island.”
The site displays the Treasury Department’s payments to third parties, as they are made, and also includes budgeted salary data. “Fast Facts” presented on its opening page give a fiscal-year-to-date total of more than $10.94 million and peg the state’s total expenditures so far this quarter at nearly $1.80 million. Listed as the top expenditure categories this quarter are: personnel, at more than $839,728 and counting; refunds and bad debt, at $426,543; rental of outside properties, at $104,831; accounting and auditing, at $101,945; and taxable claims or settlements, at $73,292.
The new state “checkbook” represents the culmination of “a truly collaborative effort among the offices of Treasury, the Department of Administration and RI.gov, which have worked to build this Web site at no cost to the public,” Caprio said.
It also represents “the fulfillment of a promise” he made during his 2006 campaign, “when he said his office would take the lead in efforts to make state government more transparent, accessible and accountable,” his office added.
“This pilot project achieves a key priority of my administration,” Caprio said in a statement. “Our hope is that the Office of the General Treasurer’s transparency site will quickly become the model for state and local government in their efforts to be more accessible and accountable to the taxpayers of Rhode Island.”
For news and information from the R.I. Office of the General Treasurer, visit www.treasury.ri.gov.