Open Books
This page offers online resources for people making efforts to keep tabs on government. If you have a link you’d like to share, or to report a broken link, please use the form at the bottom of the page.
Local Resources: Government
Meeting agendas, minutes, financial reports, union contracts, etc., are organized by department.
Our newest Clerk and Recorder has established an independent website offering records and resources to its constituencies.
Property tax database search allows lookups by name, address, or parcel number.
The Sanitary District serves the City of DeKalb area, but is a separate governmental unit supported mostly by user fees.
Local Resources: Watchdog
To understand how the local cogs fit together, don’t miss this well-established online magazine that is popular both for community news and its advocacy of better government.
Anyone can use the 10-point Transparency Checklist and rubric to rate local government websites and to read about units that IPI has already rated.
Neighboring Illinois Counties: Government
This is one of the more easily navigable county websites out there. Don’t miss the Ethics page.
Neighboring Illinois Counties: Watchdog
Visit this daily reading list to follow issues in Boone County and beyond.
Find a mix of news and opinion in the public interest with emphasis on McHenry County.
Anonymous blogger takes on the persona of Freeport founder Tutty Baker while reporting on local issues and government in Freeport and environs.
State Resources: Government
Obtain financial details as well as scanned annual financial reports from public charities and private foundations going back as far as FY2003.
Jump from this page to information about Annual Financial Reports (AFRs) and Tax Increment Financing (TIF), including access to reports from local government units. (AFRs go back to 2000, TIF Annual Reports to 2010.)
This office oversees 20 departments from state archives to business services, libraries to vehicle services. Databases include registrations of corporations and historical vital statistics.
The site serves voters, candidates and committees and supports a number of searches, including campaign contribution disclosures.
Public Act 96-266 requires each public university and community college to regularly report salary and benefit information of president, administrators and faculty members to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
State Resources: Watchdog
Searchable salary info for public officials in Illinois, including some regional and downstate municipal sources.
Tends to be Chicago-centric but also has statewide databases for teachers’ salaries, university salaries, state employees’ pensions, and more. Nothing older than 2007.
Searchable database lists 78,000 state employees with salary information for 2010. Excludes university employees.
Started in 2008, this is a newspaper-fueled database of notices of government activities that are legally required to be published. The site continues to add participant newspapers and has a goal of collecting every public notice that is published in Illinois.
Miscellaneous
Look up airplane registration information by location, individuals’ names, registration numbers and more.
Report a Link
Use this form to report a broken link, or to suggest a new one.
Thank you!
- Anson MacDonald on New Council Gets a Good Start
- Anson MacDonald on New Council Gets a Good Start
- DeKalb’s Pension Picture Updated : City Barbs on DeKalb’s Pension Funding Progress
- Better Gov't Association
- CityEthics.org
- Pro Publica
- Sunlight Foundation
- The Capitol Fax
- Transparency International
- City Barbs Facebook Group
- Cold Spring Shops
- DeKalb County Online
- DeKalb Rescue Me Now
- Prairie Voice
- The Holly House