Is your local government spending twice as much as it did five years ago yet crying that it's poor? Or have local officials been wise caretakers of your tax dollars?  

In an effort to educate Floridians about their own local government income and spending, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has announced the launch of "Your Local Government Dollars and Cents," which can be found on her Web site at www.MyFloridaCFO.com . The link for the "Local Government Dollars..." is on the right in green.  

It gives Floridians easy access to their local government's revenues and expenditures. "I encourage every Floridian to use this tool and get more involved in how their local tax dollars are spent," Sink says. "With governments actively cutting their budgets, it is essential that Floridians make it clear what their priorities are for their communities."  

This new tool allows you to search by city, county or special district for a variety of revenue information including: ad valorem taxes, grants, fees and fines. You can also look up a local government's expenditure information, including amounts spent on schools, transportation, public safety, general government and more. You can create reports comparing governments, revenues and expenditures, and electronic data is available by year from 1993 through 2007.  

I checked out my home county, Pasco. No figures were available for 2007 as yet, but I compared Ad Valorem Tax Revenues from 1998 to 2006. The figure more than doubled during the period.  

Since 1973, Florida law has required the state Department of Financial Services to collect this financial information from local governments. If you're also interested in revenue and expenditures data for local school districts, that information can be found at Florida's Department of Education, according to Sink.