Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka is traveling the state this week to announce a new database that will make local government financial information available. Topinka's office is calling the database "The Warehouse'' and says it will put records in one place so taxpayers can review them. It will include information from 5,200 counties, municipalities and special taxing districts across Illinois. The site also has a function that lets users compare governments.
Topinka says it provides the public with information that was previously difficult to find.
"Government acts more responsibly when it knows that people are watching. It's just lots of eyes all over, which makes it so much harder to cause difficulty in terms of your finances," Topinka said.
Topinka, a Republican, faces a challenge from Democrat Sheila Simon who is leaving her post as lieutenant governor to run for comptroller.
In a statement, Simon says under Topinka's watch, there have been too many missed opportunities to spot corruption at the local level. Simon says "repurposing a web address with the same information that could already be found on the comptroller website is too little and too late."
Topinka's first news conference was Monday in Chicago. She'll make six other stops including Rockford.
Illinois Public Radio contributed to this report.