S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom is working to make local government spending more transparent, and he's turning to the public for help.

Eckstrom has been working since December to persuade cities, counties and school districts to post their spending details on the Internet so taxpayers can easily see how their money is being used. To make the process as simple as possible, he's offering to host the information for the local governments on his own Web site.

"It's as easy as sending my office an Excel file or a PDF file," Eckstrom said.

Eckstrom said he's been meeting with local governments one- on- one, and he's been encouraged by the response. He expects the first wave of local governments to begin posting their spending details on the Web site in the next couple of months. The town of Irmo has already done so.

Still, some of the governments he has met with have expressed resistance, fearing that making spending details so readily available would lead to too many questions from taxpayers. So he's appealing to citizens to make their voices heard.

"Citizens who support complete spending transparency need to contact their elected officials and urge them to put their spending details on the Internet," Eckstrom said. "In most cases, it will take pressure from the public."

Last March, the Comptroller General's Office unveiled the state's first spending transparency Web site, which contains spending details for more than 80 state agencies. "It was one way to make government more transparent, which is important if government wants to regain the public trust," Eckstrom said. "We've been surprised at the public interest in the statewide site," he said. "There have been more than 50,000 visits to the site since we put it online."

Eckstrom's local government- spending transparency initiative is an expansion of that project, he said. "People have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent on the local level just as they have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent on the state level," he said.

Legislation pending in both the House and Senate would require municipalities, counties and school districts to put their check registers on the Internet.