Review and file the 2023 Yolo Local Government Website Transparency Scorecard

Review and file the 2023 Yolo Local Government Website Transparency Scorecard.

None. 

In the fall of 2017, the cities and County requested LAFCo to begin preparing web transparency scorecards on an annual basis promoting a vision for open government and transparency for government agencies countywide (cities, County, special districts, and joint powers authorities), thereby fostering public trust and accountability.

The checklist criteria are intended to establish a generally accepted minimum standard for transparency, i.e. this is not intended to be used as a "best website" contest. We acknowledge some of our larger and more resourced agencies go far above and beyond these criteria for higher levels of public service and communication. The goal for smaller agencies is not necessarily to have a high score at the outset, but to set a baseline that will hopefully see improvement from year to year.

Scorecard Results
Website transparency stayed relatively constant across most agency categories, improving for the Community Services Districts (CSDs up 4%), Yolo County Resource Conservation District (RCD up 1%), water districts (up 3%), Fire Protection Districts (FPDs up 9%), and Reclamation Districts (RDs up 4%), as detailed below. There was a slight downward trend on average for the cities/county (down 4%), cemetery districts (down 1%), County Service Areas (CSAs down 4%), and the Sac-Yolo Port District (down 6%), 

Districts in violation of state law requiring websites for independent special districts include: three cemetery districts (Capay, Cottonwood, and Knights Landing) and three Reclamation Districts (307, 730, and 765). Elkhorn FPD also does not have a website, but they have adopted a hardship resolution keeping them in compliance. 

Cities and County (5)
City and Yolo County content overall remained at a high level with 96% in 2022 and 92% in 2023.

Special Districts (47)
Special district content is summarized by each district type below. The six districts that are not in compliance with legal requirements (to either maintain a website or adopt a hardship resolution) generally are very small, volunteer-run districts with no staff to maintain a website. 

• Cemetery district (6 total) content dropped slightly from 40% in 2022 to 39% in 2023. As noted above, three cemetery districts (Capay, Cottonwood and Knights Landing) do not have a website at all. 
• Community Services Districts (4 total) content has improved slightly from 54% in 2022 to 58% in 2023.
• County Service Area (7 total) content has remained high but declined slightly from 97% in 2022 to 93% in 2023.
• The Sacramento-Yolo Port District (1) content has remained high but declined slightly from 89% in 2022 to 83% in 2023.
• The Yolo County Resource Conservation District (1) improved slightly from 70% in 2022 to 71% in 2023.
• Water districts (3 total) improved from 61% in 2022 to 64% in 2023.
• Fire protection districts (15 total, although only 5 are independent districts which require websites) improved from 47% in 2022 to 53% in 2023. Two FPDs do not have a website at all (Elkhorn and No Man's Land), but only Elkhorn FPD as an independent district is required to have one. It has adopted a hardship waiver for 2023. 
• Reclamation district (10 total) content improved slightly from 32% in 2022 to 36% in 2023. Three RDs (RD 307, RD 730 and RD 765) do not have websites at all and are not in compliance with state website laws (i.e. have not adopted hardship waivers).  

Joint Powers Authorities/Agencies (18)
Joint Powers Authorities/Agencies' (JPAs) content stayed consistent at 55% for both 2022 and 2023. Of the 18 total local JPAs tracked on the scorecard, five JPAs do not have websites at all. These JPAs are: Conaway Ranch, Winters Branch Library Financing Authority, Winters Public Finance Authority, Woodland Finance Authority, and Yolo County Public Agencies Financing Authority. However, there is no legal website requirement for JPAs.