Price Puts Commission Budget Online, Hopes County Follows Suit

Wayne County Commissioner Shannon Price, a Republican representing the county's 10th district including Plymouth, Plymouth Township and Canton, announced Monday he has placed his office budget transparency on the commission’s website, and will continue to work to get Wayne County’s budget online as well, according to a news release.

Price noted the effort was in conjunction with Sunshine Week, a national initiative emphasizing the importance of open government and freedom of information.

“People deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent and I am proud to say that today I have posted my office budget online,” Price said in a news release. “We still have a lot of work to do. We need more sunshine in Wayne County government and it starts by putting the County’s checkbook online.”

Price will host the Commission’s Committee on Ways and Means meeting scheduled for Thursday at the Canton Township Hall Board Room, 1150 S. Canton Center Road. The committee will be discussing transparency in government, where Wayne County currently is in the process, and the direction county will pursue, the news release indicated.

Chaired by Commissioner Laura Cox (R-Livonia), the Committee on Ways and Means reviews financial issues that relate to allocation of resources, which include the budget, compensation, bond issues, retirement, tax matters, and the assessment and equalization of property, according to the news release.  The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. and is open to the public.

 “Commissioner Cox began the call for transparency a few years ago, and now is the time to move to the phase of her plan,” Price said in the news release. “The budget should be a searchable database that would allow residents to look for information in any number of categories such as employee salaries, expenditures, tax credits, contracts and more.  This has worked in other states; there’s no reason not to do it here.”

Price’s budget can be located online at:

http://www.waynecounty.com/commission/district10.htm.