State auditor encourages transparency plan participation

State Auditor Kathy McGuiness held her first town hall meeting Sept. 20 touting her initiative to show residents how federal money is being spent in Delaware.

“This allows the public to be a fiscal watchdog,” McGuiness said during the meeting held in the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. “The goal is to improve accountability and transparency.”

Right now, the Gray Fox Initiative website shows a lot of zeros under municipalities’ names, because those towns have not inputted the amount of money they received under the American Rescue Plan Act, and have not indicated how the money has been spent. Several school districts have entered financial information for money they have received.

McGuiness encouraged municipalities to input the information, and citizens to urge officials to do so. Entities that submit financial information to the Gray Fox system should see reductions in both the number of public records requests and manual reporting processes, she said.

Money received under the American Rescue Plan Act can be spent on clean water or sewer infrastructure, vaccines and other items.

Speaker of the House Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, said it is probably easier for a municipality to ask what it can’t spend the money on, to be safe.

“There are things that will get you in trouble,” he said, for example, “You can’t spend it on pensions.”

Communities have until 2024 to spend the funds. McGuiness said the auditor’s office is not directing communities on how to spend the money, or judging them on their decisions.

“We are just hosting the information,” she said.

The Gray Fox fund tracker can be viewed at auditor.delaware.gov.