The Cost of State Online Spending-Transparency Initiatives

Legislatures around the country have begun to propose spending-transparency Web sites. The most effective argument against these efforts is the potential high cost of such Web sites. We looked at ten recently established state spending sites and found that initial cost estimates often overestimated the final cost. The cost of the surveyed sites range from $30,000 to $300,000, and there is little correlation between the amount spent and the quality of the Web site.