The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority is launching an online accountability center letting tax payers in on how HART does business.
People can see:
- annual budgets
- annual/monthly financial reports
- purchase card transactions
- monthly payroll expenditures
- contract catalog with status of all contracts
Across the bay in Pinellas County, one of the criticisms the No Tax for Tracks organization had against the Greenlight Pinellas referendum, which was rejected last month, was what they called PSTA's questionable spending.
HART Chief Financial Officer Jeff Seward said the transparency center is not born from the issues with the Pinellas transit system. He said it's been in the works for more than a year.
"It's important for the taxpayers to be able to have access to this financial data so they can build a level of comfort, to know that their tax dollars are being used wisely," Seward said.
The link for the accountability center will go live by Friday. Folks can look it up here and click on the transparency link.
