Illinois taxpayers now have one place they can go to see how tax dollars are spent by counties and municipalities in the state.

In the last stop of a three-day, seven-city statewide tour, Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka explained her office’s new financial report database, Warehouse, Wednesday at the Carbondale Civic Center.

Topinka said she compiled financial reports her office receives from 5,200 counties, municipalities and special taxing districts into one website in order to create statewide transparency.

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“Governments act more responsibly when they know people are watching,” Topinka said.

Tens of thousands of records became readily available to the public when the website went live Monday. Taxpayers and the press can now search records on the website by report type, unit of government or by the municipality’s name.

A city’s page tells who the chief financial officer is, the city’s population, total employees, total expenditures and total revenues among other things. Annual audits, TIF reports and annual financial reports are also available.

Sesser Mayor Jason Ashmore said the website will help keep his city accountable.

“When I first took office in May, our last audit had been in 2007,” he said. “The first thing I did was call Judy’s office and say, ‘help’.”

Ashmore said Sesser is now getting caught up with audits and hopes to have the new audit available on the Warehouse website.

Topinka said the information provided on the website is information citizens often complain to her office about.

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“The public asked for transparency, and they should have it,” she said.

While any citizen can file a Freedom of Information Act request for the same information on the website, Murphsyboro Mayor Will Stephens said city staff can now direct people to the website. He said sometimes FOIA requests can take a few days to compile and take time from city staff.

“It’s not just a benefit for (city staff), but for the individual, which is what matters,” he said.

Stephens said the tool will give information to community members who will hopefully bring any specific concerns to the City Council.

In April 2012 Topinka’s office unveiled a similar transparency initiative that provided one place to find information the Comptroller’s office uses, including daily receipts and bill backlog numbers. Topinka said because of the success of that website — 2.5 million page views since its launch — she had her Information Technology department begin work on the Warehouse.

All financial records can be found at warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com.