According to South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds, the state’s open records and open ledger website continues to grow and draw interested citizens. OPEN SD has had nearly 300,000 visitors in the past 12 months, officials said.
“South Dakota citizens care about how their tax dollars are spent, and they can find the answers in great detail with just a few clicks on the computer,” Gov. Mike Rounds said in a statement. “OPEN SD features a wealth of documents and is continually updated.”
First launched in September 2008, OPEN SD contained 106,000 financial records, adding to the 180,000 pages of information on other state government websites. The number of pages on all state websites is currently above 450,000.
Annual data on the state budget, revenues, and staffing levels are available on OPEN SD, along with information on the state payroll, job classifications, and vendor data. The website is automatically updated. When records change, so does the online information.
According to the Sunshine Review, South Dakota has garnered a B- ranking at the state level, with most counties receiving an F for transparency. The Sunshine Review report card indicates that if the state made lobbying records available and had an established ethics commission with a process for reporting ethics violations, their ranking could improve.
“OPEN SD is an informative Internet stop for the public,” Gov. Rounds added. “I’m encouraged that more people are turning to it to get accurate facts about state government finances.”
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