FOIA provides transparency in Palos Hills

A neighbor complained that he wished he knew how tax money was spent in Palos Hills. I told him to look for the city budget on the website. A couple of days later he told me other area cities had their budgets online, but Palos Hills did not.

Before offering any other words of wisdom, I did a little research. It turns out he was correct about other towns offering their budgets online including

Orland Park
Palos Heights
Palos Park

I called Palos Hills City Hall and was told I could receive a copy of the budget, but I'd have to come to City Hall to file a Freedom of Information request. The Freedom of Information Act give citizens access to basic public information. It's one way citizens can access information and learn more about their government.

Palos Hills does have its FOIA request document online. There isn't any information about what types of documents you can request. Oak Lawn does a very nice job of outlining the documents available via a FOIA request. It's pretty safe to follow this as a guideline for documents you can request from any city government.

I filed a FIOA request for the 2013 City of Palos Hills budget. Shortly after I received the document via email. Clerk Rudy Mulderink's office sent the information quickly and without problems.

It takes a bit of extra work to find transparency in Palos Hills, but it is available to those seeking it.  If you'd like to learn more about the Freedom of Information Act in Illinois, visit http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/.