Nevada Opens Up ‘State Checkbook’ to Public

A searchable database of Nevada state expenditures is now available to the public. Called the Nevada Open Finance Portal, or state checkbook for short, it provides access to accurate, up-to-date information on state spending.

Gov. Joe Lombardo and state Controller Andy Matthews were among those who unveiled the new site Tuesday. For Matthews, it culminated more than 15 years of work going back to before his time as president of Nevada Policy (2011-15). Also involved with development of the site was current Nevada Policy Director of Research Geoffrey Lawrence.

“The people have every right to know how and where the government is spending their money,” Matthews said. “Now more than ever it’s important that people know the government is being responsible with their tax dollars.

“This is an important step in creating an informed citizenry,” he added.

The state checkbook is designed to enhance financial transparency in state spending by making information about state expenditures, balances and contractors available in a web-based format that can be searched by the public.

“Now, Nevadans can see with clarity exactly who is being paid out of the taxpayers’ purse,” Lawrence said. “Transparency is the first step to accountability.”

To use the state checkbook, which is found at www.checkbook.nv.gov, you can enter the name of a vendor in the site’s search bar. One example would be info on Las Vegas-headquartered Paragon Diversity Group.

Using the checkbook, we can see that Paragon Diversity has been paid more than $1,013,226.61 in state funds since the beginning of the 2018-19 fiscal year, including $312,375 since the start of the 2023 fiscal year.

Paragon, which handles human resources, including the implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion strategies, received payment through the Nevada Department of Transportation. According to the state checkbook, the payments are listed under “infrastructure,” with the spending category shown as “buildings/improvement.”

At present, the portal doesn’t allow viewers to see exactly what each expenditure went toward. However, it does give viewers information on who received the expenditure and when it was received, useful for filing an open records request to gather more information.

“This kind of transparency adds a new layer of government oversight by the citizenry, but it can also foster greater trust in public institutions once taxpayers know they can verify how tax dollars are spent,” Lawrence said.

A future goal is to provide taxpayers with the ability to drill down even further, Matthews said.

Currently, the Nevada Open Finance Portal contains just state information, but Matthews said he’s hopeful that county and city governments will put their financial information on the site, as well.

“I’d like this to be the one stop shop for government spending at all levels in Nevada,” he said.