Find Out How Your State Tax Dollars are Being Spent

By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- There's a new way to find out where tax dollars are being spent, and it can be done from the comfort of your home.

In these tough times it's crucial that every penny in the state budget is accounted for, but doing so has always been a timely task. Now comes new technology that allows anyone to track exactly who is spending tax dollars, where and how much.

There's now a place on the state's official Web site that allows anyone to follow transactions made on purchase cards issued to state employees. It's a lot like looking at someone's checkbook, but in this case, the accounts belong to state workers and the money belongs to taxpayers.

Representative Jason Murphy and Senator Randy Brogdon came up with the idea of tracking p-card transactions online.

"House and Senate leadership has been very supportive of more government transparency," Murphy said.

Track Purchase Card Transactions

NEWS 9 did some tracking on the new program and found purchases made by a worker inside the Tourism and Recreation Department. The employee charged nearly $2,000 on a p-card at a place called Freely Creative, which is a company in Vermont that makes stickers.

Another worker, in the state's Department of Rehabilitation Services, spent $61.90 at Bed Bath and Beyond. By looking at the site, it's unclear why the purchase was made because the description for the purchase is "general transaction." We're told it is up to the merchants to provide that kind of information, and some don't have the technology or capability to send itemized lists of what's being purchased.

A spokesperson for DRS says the purchase was made by Rehabilitation Technician Leslie Dismukes in October, and the money was spent on items needed for an independent living program for the blind.

We asked Murphy about the purpose of the site if details of purchases are excluded, and he agreed the system needs some work.

"If it doesn't help them, then it needs to be in more detail," Murphy said.

He said he's working to make the transactions more transparent, but there are other problems concerning the Web site.

Right now, higher education institutions, such as the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, are the only groups that do not have to report p-card expenditures, yet their funding makes up the second biggest chunk of state's appropriations behind common education.

The Department of Central Services has oversight of the p-card program, but the higher education groups don't turn over the p-card expenditures to that department.

"I was shocked to realize that loophole was there, and I will work on closing it this year," Murphy said.

Lawmakers do not carry p-cards because they are reimbursed for work-related expenses.