You may be wondering why I posted it? Information is power and sharing it means that now you know what I know. Unlike questions about some parts of the budget, that is a question I can answer. There are parts of the budget that I probably have the experience and expertise to understand and question.

But there are other parts about which I have no clue at all. Sharing the document with the citizens of Newton County means that people with different talents and skills can all review it.

I strongly dislike power games based on concealing information in order to have personal power. Such antics do not further the ends of any organization.

In the case of government, that would be having transparent government that provides services to its citizens. Since it is possible to "find" almost $100,000 to save in this budget, our county government falls short in terms of being "transparent."

County government leaders, Democrats and Republicans, should know that the citizens of Newton County are not interested in being told what they "need to know." We are interested in a transparent government documents its activities with publicly accessible documents on its Web site for all to see.

First question on the 2010 budget: If we are going to spend $966,370 on information services (DOC082009.pdf, page 17), why isn't there a copy of the 2010 budget on the county Web site?

Patrick Durusau is a resident of Covington. His columns appear regularly on Fridays.