On Monday, Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher announced the unveiling of a new website for the Ulster County Comptroller’s Office. The website provides easy one button access to the two transparency tools created by the Comptroller’s Office: The Public Pay Dashboard and the Contract & Vendor Dashboard. The Public Pay Dashboard has searchable pay of all types to County employees for 2023 and 2024. The Vendor & Contract Dashboard provides the first ever public access to all Ulster County contracts and contract amendments as well as the payment made to vendors under each contract.
In addition to these transparency tools, the new Comptroller’s website provides easy, searchable access to all the Comptroller’s audits, reports, and memoranda. The website also provides a new functionality to share initiatives with policy makers and county residents. The first initiative shared draws together all the Comptroller’s previous work on housing. A second initiative includes work of the Ulster County Commission for Digital Inclusion, first convened by the Comptroller in 2022 to address the lack of internet and cellular service. A transparency initiative provides first time public access to the County’s financial policies as well as all the Comptroller’s reports and memorandum on transparency.
“It is my hope that the public, unions, and elected officials will be better able to access our up-to-date data and reports to better inform their decision making,” said Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher. “I am very thankful to the County Legislature for allocating the funds needed for this upgrade in the 2024 budget. Our former website was cutting edge at the time it was developed under Comptroller Auerbach, but technology has changed with the addition of data tools such as PowerBI that allow us to share massive data sets publicly.”
The County Comptroller’s new website, developed by Kingston Creative, includes a ticker that tracks County funds saved and earned since 2020 by the work of the Comptroller’s Office. The new website also provides easy access for residents to check with the Office of State Comptroller on unclaimed funds or on their local city, town, village government and local school districts.
Finally, the Comptroller provides email and telephone opportunities for residents to report waste, fraud, or abuse of public funds. The majority of frauds identified come from a tip from a community member.