Transparency in Idaho isn’t new; North Idaho residents just might not have known how to access it.  

Area officials recently met with met with Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf to give an overview of Transparent Idaho, a decade-old website that lets the public view the financial and operational data for all of Idaho.  

Transparent Idaho was originally launched in January 2013, following the appointment and election of Woolf as Idaho State Controller, with the intent to bring more transparency to Idaho citizens. The site began as a collection of PDF pages and reports, making data “hard to find, to slice and dice, to look through and to analyze.” 

Through the use of technological advancements and more thorough reporting, the website today uses visuals and easy-to-search tools to give citizens the ability to view and compare data at the state, county, city, local district and school district level.  

According to Transparent Idaho officials, data used throughout the site “includes a checkbook-level analysis of incoming and outgoing funds.” 

Woolf spent the better part of an hour going through the website with officials in the region, including Bonner County Commissioner Asia Williams, sharing that levels of data such as budgets, expenditures and salaries could be viewed and dissected by county and fiscal year. Some categories, such as top county by expenditure, can be viewed by dollar amount or percentage of total budget.  

Woolf highlighted the website’s ability to compare a county’s expenditures by category through the use of charts and graphs, showing where county dollars are being spent versus where the county is receiving revenue.

Transparent Idaho also includes a report on county salaries. According to Woolf, 98% of site viewers go on the site to view workforce statistics and salaries.  

The website also gives viewers the opportunity to search Bonner County districts, such as one of the many fire districts in the county, and research its revenue versus expenditures over the past several years.  

“It’s a great website, but if no one uses it and no one takes advantage of it, then it’s just gathering dust,” said Woolf. 

Aside from high level data available for Idaho counties, cities and other municipalities, Transparent Idaho provides quick links to access state agreements and contracts, public records and the option to follow state agency, board and commission meetings. Woolf said that the website is in the process of creating a quick access portal to county, city and school board meetings.   

Woolf also touched on other improvements that are on the horizon, including a more in-depth analysis of school districts and the ability to see when data was updated last to the website. 

    Transparent Idaho website in 2013