ATLANTA -- The City of Atlanta has launched a massive project meant to show taxpayers exactly how their money is spent following federal subpoenas and huge questions about spending by the past administration.
The city's new website, Checkbook.AtlantaGa.gov is designed to allow users to log in from their phone or computer to follow the city's flow of money. But will it really help people track where their cash is going?
"The launch of Open Checkbook will allow people to hold the government accountable and see exactly how their tax dollars are being spent," Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said.
Already, $2.1 billion in spending over the last two years is available for review and the website is pretty easy to navigate. So, it definitely does allow the public to keep tabs on government.
But is everything the city spends on the site? Short answer: No.
Users can see the balance paid off for all 18 city credit cards, but cannot see what each person spent.
"We are having some discussions internally for a way to upload those statements in a way that's more accessible," Bottoms said. "We are getting open records requests for those statements before we have even seen them."
While the city works on making that more accessible, Mayor Bottoms said there's some information that just won't be available. After the city suffered a cyber attack in the spring, they're shielding some information from ever hitting the site.
"Internal bank transfers, payroll information such as garnishments, jail bonds, court bonds, charges related to victims fees, subdivision plan review, traffic fines imposed for GSP motorcycle unit, unclaimed wages, and workers compensation is the only information not available," Bottoms said.
Information on the top department, the top vendor, and the top expenses are all laid out on the homepage. So that much is available.
