Category Archives: Transparency

Positive signs for Orem taxpayers after 8-hour tax hearing

Posted on August 15, 2012 by

Tweet After an eight-hour Truth in Taxation Hearing, the Orem City Council voted 4-3 at 1:45 this morning to approve a 25 percent property tax increase for the Orem portion of the property tax bill, instead of the proposed 50 … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Government Spending, Limited Government, Personal Responsibility, Taxes, Transparency | 2 Comments

Video: U. students kick off transparency project

Posted on April 13, 2012 by

Tweet On Wednesday, students at the University of Utah hosted a public forum to release a set of “best practices” for transparency in local government. This initiative, the Utah Transparency Project (UTP), is supported by Sutherland Institute and other groups … Continue reading →

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U. students and Sutherland advocate for transparency in local government

Posted on April 9, 2012 by

Tweet In today’s hyper-partisan political climate it has become difficult to find topics that generate universal (or near-universal) agreement, making those issues that everyone does agree on both refreshing and encouraging. One such issue is the need for open, transparent … Continue reading →

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Eagle Mountain joins the A+ transparency club

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

Tweet   Eagle Mountain recently became the fourth Utah city to earn Sutherland’s “A+ Website Transparency Award.” Sutherland produced a report in the fall of 2010 that ranked city governments on the transparency and utility of their city websites — … Continue reading →

Posted in Transparency | Tagged , | 2 Comments

California shows that ‘independent commissions’ are an illusion

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

Tweet   Some in Utah, including interest groups, the media, and a few elected officials (usually former elected officials) favor creating “nonpartisan,” “independent” commissions to oversee important political processes like congressional redistricting and legislative ethics investigations.“Independent” commissions produce better outcomes, … Continue reading →

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Taxpayer tab for UVU employee’s California adventure: $2K

Posted on August 2, 2011 by

Tweet   After a KSL viewer snapped a photo of aUtah taxpayer-owned vehicle parked near Disneyland earlier this year, the state fleet office identified the minivan as belonging to Utah Valley University (UVU). In mid-April a UVU employee drove the … Continue reading →

Posted in Government Spending, Transparency | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Back to basics: making government effective in Mali, Africa

Posted on July 11, 2011 by

Tweet   Sutherland recently interviewed Yeah Samake, mayor of Ouelessebougou, Mali, to discover which principles have helped him effectively lead a city in the second-poorest country in the world. Watch the video report below to hear what he said: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8nFS7AwrpU … Continue reading →

Posted in Self-reliance, Taxes, Transparency | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development gets a D+ for transparency

Posted on May 12, 2011 by

Tweet This morning, I arrived at the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) to attend a GOED board meeting at 10 a.m. No one was there. Apparently, the meeting had been postponed until May 26. The funny thing is that … Continue reading →

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