The John Locke Foundation gave Madison County a D for transparency. In addition, the county’s schools and four municipalities received D’s also. That shouldn’t surprise the locals. I’ve worked in Madison County for almost twenty years. One of the first comments I heard about the county’s government was that a man had been shot in broad daylight on the steps of the courthouse, and there were no witnesses. Investigative journalist Ann Ryder used to write monthly about alleged collusions, nepotism, and coverups. Madison County government has such a bad rap, I was chastised by my landlord when I lived there for calling the police when I had a prowler.
The JLF found that nine of the fourteen records it sought to gauge transparency were not available from the county; eleven were not available for each of the four municipalities. Unavailable records include the county’s checkbook, budget, audit reports, CAFR, and contracts.
