News Release
Feb. 11, 2011
For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
RON JENKINS
Media Advisor
Oklahoma Office of State Finance
(405) 521-3267
OSF EXPANDS OFFERINGS ON OPENBOOKS TRANSPARENCY WEBSITE
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Office of State Finance has gone online with an expanded version of the OpenBooks transparency website, Preston Doerflinger, director of the agency, announced Friday.
"This is part of our continuing efforts to improve our website in compliance with legislation passed by the 2010 Oklahoma Legislature," Doerflinger said. "Our office has been working diligently to carry out the legislation’s intent to increase the amount of information available to the public about state government funding and spending."
Doerflinger, former city auditor in Tulsa, was appointed last month by Gov. Mary Fallin to serve as director of the OSF and as a member of the governor’s cabinet as Secretary of Finance.
Office of State Finance officials met Friday with the Capitol press corps to discuss the upgrading of OpenBooks.
"I wholeheartedly support these efforts to make government more transparent and open,” Gov. Fallin said. “Our citizens deserve a proper accounting of the sources of state revenue and how their hard-earned tax dollars are spent."
Citizens can access OpenBooks through the State of Oklahoma website, www.ok.gov.
The new version of OpenBooks allows the public to track state government spending down to the penny in some areas. For instance, all vendor payments from the previous month are available on the website. Previously, only vendor payments of $5,000 or more were posted.
The website also contains increased transparency in such areas as funding, payroll and credit card transactions by state employees, as well as links to websites with related information. It allows the news media and members of the public to "drill down" to get specific information they are seeking.
Alex Pettit, Oklahoma’s chief information officer, said members of the OSF’s Information Services Division and other agency employees have worked tirelessly on expanding the functionality of the website.
"I’m proud of the work OSF’s Information Services Division has done," Pettit said. "With user feedback, this site will continue to grow and improve, giving citizens a centralized source of where our tax dollars are being spent."
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Last Modified on 02/12/2011