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, elec-tronic 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.