Pennsylvania treasurer opens transparency portal

Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella launched a transparency portal that he said would provide a more in-depth look at how the commonwealth is spending more than $100 billion.

“Today’s announcement is more than an unveiling, it’s another phase of my overall transparency initiative with additional updates to come,” Torsella said Monday.

Shortly after taking office in January, Torsella launched Phase 1, which enabled taxpayers to track the general-fund balance in real time.

The new portal, he said, expands taxpayer access by offering the ability to compare the past three years of expenditures at the fund, department, and appropriation levels.

Users can track the $2.5 billion line of credit Treasury extended to the general fund for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, along with the payback through two installments in March and April.

He added that users can also monitor each of the commonwealth fund share balances within the Treasury investment pools.