The process should be transparent to the citizenry if the advantages of public input are to accrue. Citizens should understand when in the process public input will be considered by administrative bodies, and lawmakers and public bodies need to be transparent in their operations. Transparency is a critical element of greater involvement. Otenyo and Lind (2004) helpfully identify five phases of transparency reforms in government:(a) transparency as representative government (government legitimacy);(b) transparency as a means of judging the distribution of policy benefits (service delivery); (c) transparency as a response to maladministration (eradicating corruption); (d) transparency to enhance accountability (information and decision-making disclosures); and (e) transparency as open government (technology, electronic democracy,and governance).8 Each aspect links to the process of fiscal administration for local governments because that process provides the best opportunity for communicating fiscal results and intentions to the local citizenry and for receiving communications from the citizenry.
Even when lawmakers are effectively operating as the agents of those who have elected them, it is critical that the population understand the fiscal decisions made on their behalf, if for no other reason than to allow them to make informed choices in the next election. For transparency to be effective, fiscal decisions—on taxing, spending, and borrowing—need to be made in an open process,not in closed hearing rooms or so quickly that there is no opportunity for public scrutiny. And fiscal information needs to be publicly and freely available to the general public and, most important,to the media. At the local level,transparency provides the means of communication between government and citizenry regarding priorities, plans,decision making,and evaluation of results and,hence,can become an important foundation for responsive,responsible,and effective public services. Published budgets that include both plans and results in transparent language are important for encouraging local citizen input. A provision for local citizen input is one of the great advantages of making fiscal decisions at the local level,and transparency is the tool for achieving the advantage of citizen participation in the fiscal process. How much information is
provided and how usable it is depends on local political will, the cost of providing information,and higher-tier legal requirements. The last is least effective because local transparency is seldom an important concern for higher-tier lawmakers.