News Flash

First Selectman Timothy Herbst acknowledged the findings of a recent transparency audit conducted by The Yankee Institute for Public Policy on each of the 169 municipalities in Connecticut. The purpose of the audit was to evaluate the transparency of each town, based primarily on the availability and accessibility of certain documents on their municipal websites.

The study ranked the Town of Trumbull third in the State of Connecticut, with a score of 98 out of a possible 100. Only two Connecticut municipalities achieved perfect scores in the audit.

The audit identified the information currently available on the Town’s website and reviewed categories such as contact information, public meetings, public information, budgets, audits, expenditures, taxes, ethics statements, and others. Trumbull was cited as an ideal example for other municipalities to follow in the expenditures category, where check registers and annualized vendor payment information are posted so that citizens can see how their tax dollars are being spent. The report states that expenditure disclosure reduces the possibility of waste or fraud.

The auditor’s note declared, “Trumbull has one of the most transparent websites in Connecticut.” It also goes on to say that “the Trumbull website contains several documents that few other towns publish like check registers, union contracts, and freedom of information request information.”

The study shows that the town and its officials are always open to sharing information with taxpayers. First Selectman Timothy Herbst fully supports the audit and believes that all citizens have the right to see what their elected officials are doing, “The Town is committed to government transparency and making our website a valuable resource for our citizens. My administration will prioritize the maintenance and continual improvement of the website”, said Herbst. William Chin, Director of the Town’s Technology Department, stated “the Yankee Institute’s audit is just the latest example of the overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received regarding the Town’s website.” “The First Selectman has made it very clear that transparency is a high priority goal for the website, and we expend a great deal of energy toward that end objective,” Chin added.