State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced that financial information for more than 500 state and local public authorities is now available at Open Book New York http://www.openbooknewyork.com/, a transparency website launched by DiNapoli in 2008. The database, going back to 2007, can be downloaded in an Excel, tsv or csv format.

“Public authorities often do business out of the public eye, but they are responsible for overseeing billions in taxpayer dollars and assets,” DiNapoli said. “We’re working to open the books and let the public see public authorities’ revenue and spending. This addition to Open Book New York makes it the go-to source for comprehensive, user-friendly financial information for state and local governments.”

In December, DiNapoli added state payments to Open Book New York. The state payment data, which includes about 10,000 new payments each day, contains the agency submitting the payment request, the payment recipient, the payment amount and the date the payment was made. About six million payments are available for searching.

Open Book New York also contains detailed revenue, spending, debt and property tax cap information for 3,100 local governments, going back as far as 1999. Nearly 50,000 state contracts and amendments can also be searched, along with major spending categories for state agencies. Most data is updated daily.

“When we launched Open Book New York, we promised to keep adding information and we have. But rather than just posting the information, we allow users to download entire databases and make comparisons among government entities. We want this website to give government watchdogs and individuals the tools they need to give knowledgeable feedback to their elected officials,” DiNapoli said.

As the state’s fiscal watchdog, DiNapoli is responsible for processing all state payments, reviewing tens of billions in state contracts annually and monitoring local government finances.