Nevada releases citizen-centric report on stimulus funds
Nevada State Controller Kim Wallin has released a two-page, easy-to-understand report summarizing what Nevada has done with its initial infusion of stimulus funds. Nevada is the first state to issue the stimulus citizen-centric report under a pilot program created by the Alexandria, Va.-based Association of Government Accountants (AGA).
The report will be issued quarterly and is designed to provide basic information about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, according to Wallin. “The report demonstrates a concrete commitment to transparency. With the issuance of this citizen-centric report, Nevada has taken the lead in keeping citizens apprised of what we are doing with stimulus funds,” Wallin said. (View Nevada’s reports. Find additional information on the state’s stimulus funding.)
The AGA’s Citizen-Centric Reporting Program encourages governments to produce and publish quarterly reports of no more than two pages on stimulus funding. “Government fiscal assessments generally read like telephone books, with more pages of footnotes than the average citizen knows what to do with,” said Relmond Van Daniker, AGA executive director. “The citizen-centric project is about getting back to what accountants are meant to do — crunch the numbers and make them understandable for the people we serve. I want to congratulate Controller Wallin on being the first government official to issue a citizen-centric report geared specifically to stimulus funds.”
Van Daniker noted that the two-page report on stimulus funds is a shorter version of an annual, four-page citizen-centric report that has been issued by more than 40 federal, state and local government agencies, including Nevada. The four-page format was developed and championed by AGA to help inform citizens about the financial condition and performance of the government.
Nevada’s report indicates that through Dec. 31, 2009, the state had spent 85 percent of its stimulus money on education, medical assistance and aid to the unemployed. In addition, 84 weatherization assistance projects, averaging $5,608 per project, were completed, funding 81 jobs. The Department of Transportation is working on 69 projects, such as the I-80 W interchange in Humboldt County, spending $9.4 million and funding over 40 jobs.
AGA offers a template that covers content and the design of citizen-centric reports.
“So if governments have in-house staffs that want to create a report using a simple MS Word program, it’s easy to do,” said Jennifer Curtin, AGA’s director of public affairs.
AGA has been working with MPA programs at universities across the U.S. that are preparing citizen-centric reports as classroom projects. “We’ve been working to link the colleges with cities, towns and states that want to do their first report but don’t have the staff to do it,” Curtin told Govpro.com.
AGA stages a student challenge in October, specifically for undergraduates, which has a citizen-centric report component. The participants are mainly business and accounting students.
AGA works to advance government accountability. The organization supports the careers and professional development of government financial professionals working in federal, state and local governments as well as the private sector and academia.
To view more citizen-centric reports from other towns and states, go to www.agacgfm.org/citizen/completed.aspx. AGA also offers a template that covers content and the design of citizen-centric reports.