Idaho State Controller Upgrades Open Government Website

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf says a new upgrade to the state's open-data transparency website will make it easier for people to get a look at the state's checkbook-level financial information.

The website is updated every night and has information including state employee salaries, payments made on state contracts, expenditures on travel and more. The upgrade, expected to go live on June 1, will include improved research tools, charts and other graphics. Woolf says residents will be able to review everything from which agency spent the most on pizza to who has the highest salaries in each county.

Woolf says the update will help restore public trust in government, and comes in response to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center that found confidence in government nationwide is at an all-time low.

Woolf launched the Transparent Idaho site in 2013. It can be found at transparent.idaho.gov.