Schuyler County’s official website has been judged New York’s best county site.
The website is located at schuylercounty.us.
The ranking was announced in the 2014 SeeThroughNY Local Government Website Report Card by the Empire Center for Public Policy.
“Eighty-five percent of the websites for New York’s largest local governments and school districts are failing to provide taxpayers with basic, easy-to-find information,” Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center, said in a news release.
The report card was based on thorough reviews of 500 county, town, city, village and school district websites between July and September. Websites were rated on the basis of whether they provided items such as contact information, spending data, labor contracts and public meeting records and the ease with which the items could be located.
An example of Schuyler County’s commitment to a quality website is the posting of results of the recent elections. Tallies from all 19 voting districts were on the website by 10 p.m., just one hour after polls closed.
The county’s preliminary 2015 budget is on the site. Also posted is a recently released audit criticizing the county’s financial operations.
County officials often post information in response to suggestions from residents.
The website report card ranked the sites of the towns of Penfield and Wilton, the village of Rye Brook and Clarkstown Central School District as the other top local government sites. Two villages, Ballston Spa and New Square, had no websites to be reviewed.
The Empire Center is an independent, non-partisan think tank based in Albany. It sponsors SeeThroughNY.net, a transparency website that includes an extensive database of government payrolls, comparative data and other information.
© 2014 Elmira Star-Gazette
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