One bill in the package will require the State Auditor to maintain a searchable public database listing all personal property items owned by the state and valued at $500 or more. The second bill mandates the Finance Department will create an automated inventory of all facilities and lands that are owned, leased, or occupied by state government.
“Taxpayers should be able to know exactly what items are being purchased with the dollars they send to Montgomery and whether they are needed or excessive,” DeMarco said in a statement. “Both of these searchable databases will allow instant and easy access to this important information, which will hopefully reassure taxpayers that their state government is being run in a lean, efficient and frugal manner.”
The Property Inventory Control Division of the State Auditor’s Office will be tasked with maintaining the database of agency items valued at $500 or more, which will be searchable based upon the name of the department or agency that owns the property, the county in which the property is located, its description, and the date it was entered into inventory.
The database would be updated at least once a month and would be publicly available as a link on the official State of Alabama website, as well as the State Auditor’s website.
Similar requirements apply to the bill creating the State Department of Finance’s automated inventory of all facilities and lands that are “owned, leased, rented or occupied by any state agency or the judicial branch.”
DeMarco has introduced both bills in previous sessions, and the Finance Department has voluntarily begun maintaining a property database as a result. DeMarco is now seeking to codify the requirement into law for all future administrations and officeholders to continue the practice.
“Alabama’s online check book has been available to the public for the past few years, and it’s time for the information about property purchased with taxpayer dollars and owned by the state to be made available on the Internet, as well,” DeMarco said. “When it comes to basic state government finances and operations, there’s really no such thing as too much transparency.”
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