Delaware Business Blog

DelawareSpends.com provides a clear look into Delaware government spending

By admin July 10, 2009 Accounting & Finance, Delaware, Government 2 Comments

Talk about a great step towards increased transparency in the First State!

Learn where your tax dollars go – down to the agency, the person and the penny!

Through freedom of information requests and the power of technology, the Caesar Rodney Institute has put a searchable, exportable and user-friendly database online, including:

  • Salaries, benefits and total compensation for all state and school district employees; all Kent County employees; and all Sussex County employees.

  • Check payments to vendors for the state, all 19 school districts and New Castle County.

    • Here is some of what you will find:

  • From January 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009, state employees received more than $76.5 million in benefits.

  • In fiscal year 2008, the State of Delaware spent over $3.1 billion in check payments to Delaware businesses and over $1 billion to out-of-state firms (over a quarter of the check expenditures), equating to over $3 million dollars per day sent out of state.

  • 862 state and school district employees make $100,000 annually or more totaling over $50.9 million in salaries.

  • In 2008, the State of Delaware spent over $4.3 million on association dues and conference fees.

  • In fiscal year 2008, New Castle County spent:

    Over $47,000 on animal food
    Over $85,000 on hotel accommodations
    Over $7.5 million on other professional services

    • So where can you find out more?

    DelawareSpends.com gives Delaware taxpayers an unbiased look at raw spending data, provided directly by official government sources. It is designed to be a tool used by Delawareans to research, analyze, compare and share government spending data.

    2 thoughts on “DelawareSpends.com provides a clear look into Delaware government spending”

    2. Russell Post author

      Thanks for the comment Therese. I’d say in general, anyone who has a budget needs to evaluate and manage expenses. Households do, and governments should too. Sometime that means “tightening the belt” a bit, when its necessary. The problem lies in getting everyone to agree where to “tighten”- no matter whose budget you are talking about!

      Reply ↓

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