In the digital age, government should be more open than ever. Unfortunately, it isn’t.

Despite a 2012 addition to the Open Meetings Law which encouraged the state’s local municipalities to use their websites to promote transparency, local governments across the state have failed to realize the potential of the Internet.

In the Empire Center’s 2014 SeeThroughNY Website Report Card, 85 percent of the state’s 500 largest counties, municipalities and school districts received failing grades. According to the study, which reviewed websites between July and September of last year, most sites fail to provide information on budgets, taxes and expenditures.

Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, the city of Jamestown and Jamestown Public Schools District qualified for the study. Of the four local websites surveyed, only Chautauqua County’s earned a passing grade – a D, placing the site in the top 15 percent of the entire state. The county received excellent scores for its posting of budgets, expenditures, taxes and fees. The county scored poorly, however, in the public information, ease of navigation and contracts categories.

Cattaraugus County received scores of “0” in half the categories. According to the Empire Center, the county has one of the worst websites in the state.

The city of Jamestown earned high marks in the facilities and services category and in financial reports. Unfortunately, the city came up empty for public information and contracts. JPS landed a near-perfect score in the public meetings category but failed to manage any points for expenditures.

Why do these scores matter?

As the Empire Center puts it, local officials make decisions that will impact taxpayers long after they’ve left office. “Taxpayers have a right to know the full details of these decisions and their ramifications both before and after they’ve been voted on,” the report reads.

A downstate Democrat may have a solution to the problem. Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, has sponsored a bill that would require counties, cities, towns and villages to maintain official websites. “Websites must contain basic information, financial reports, meeting and election notices, meeting agendas and minutes, and an updated version of local code or laws,” the bill reads.

The legislation would eliminate soft language in the 2012 Open Meetings Law addition, which stated public records “shall be posted on the website to the extent practicable as determined by the agency.” Clearly, that language didn’t scare 85 percent of the state’s municipalities.

Zebrowski’s bill deserves bipartisan support. It’s time for New York taxpayers to enjoy the transparency of the digital age.

© 2015 The Post-Journal