It appears the WPRI report detailing local government health benefits for retirees has made an impression, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel cites it again today to demonstrate the Milwaukee Public School system’s economic collapse. Today’s report relies on an analysis of MPS’ health benefits that was conducted by the Segal Company, a private consulting group that warns MPS’ benefit levels are much higher than comparable governments. Too see the full Segal report (in two parts) click here and here.

But doing my research for the paper, another issue came up that is vitally important to the public’s right to keep tabs on what their government is up to: the availability of financial documents online. In order to compile the total postemployment liability for local governments, I had to collect financial reports from 27 of them; but fewer than one-third of these governments had their Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) online for the public to view. Basically, the CAFR is a full list of the government’s finances, and a good unbiased resource for what their taxing and spending levels are, how much debt they carry, and what kind of pension and health care obligations they carry.

But for the majority of these governments, they make it extremely difficult to obtain this rudimentary information via the web. And keep in mind, the governments in my report are the 27 biggest local governments in the state, as only entities over $100 million are obligated to report their retiree health care liabilities this year. The City of Kenosha was notably terrible, as they refused to return any of my calls or e-mails requesting their liability – they acted as if it were the Colonel’s original chicken recipe.

Several entities are emerging to push governments for more access to their records. The Lucy Burns Institute, a national foundation based here in Madison, has set up a blog advocating for more online disclosure. Americans for Tax Reform has also undertaken a state-by-state effort to ensure more budget transparency.

Access to public records should really be the very least we ask of our public records. And in the internet age, there’s no reason these financial reports shouldn’t be online, or should be buried on their websites in a difficult place to find. (It’s easy to tell when a local government doesn’t want you to be able to find certain documents.) We should demand the same access to our government information as they have to ours.