The Chapala government has flunked a comprehensive test of its transparency performance, ranking in next to last place among 22 Jalisco communities evaluated by the Citizens Collective for Transpearent Municipalities (CIMTRA).
With a score of 4.7 out of a possible 100 points, Chapala also stands at the bottom of the national ladder, placing 32nd out of the 48 municipalities included in the CIMTRA survey.
In comparison, the metro-area municipalities of Tlajomulco, Guadalajara and Zapopan took the top three state and national spots, with scores of 97.6, 96 and 94.2 points respectively. Ocotlán placed fourth with 86.2 and Tlaquepaque fifth at 71.7.
The finding – concluded in April – was based on an information-gathering process conducted during December 2015 and January of this year. Chapala was graded with zeros in nearly all categories under consideration, with the exception of citizen attention.
Chapala press office chief Antonio Manzano Uribe attributed the dismal grade to technical issues that arose with the October change of government, explaining that the new administration was not provided with the password needed to update the city’s official website.
The issue was apparently corrected early this year, allowing the government to reinstate online service for consultation and payment of property taxes by mid-January.
From continual tracking of the website carried out by this newspaper, it has been observed that the content required by law has improved significantly over the past five months, especially in regard to financial matters. Bimonthly payroll records for last October through March 2016 and various previous years are now posted online for public scrutiny, as are lists of business licenses issued from January through April of this year. News briefs on the local government’s activities also appear regularly on the homepage.
Still, many other deficiencies are apparent. For example, there is not a single record of the official acts drawn up from city council sessions during the current regime.
Citizens interested in obtaining obligatory government information that is not yet available through the “transparencia” tab at www.chapala.gob, are forced to go through alternate channels such as filing written requests at city hall or via the public information site infomexjalisco.org.mx. Statistics show that the municipality handles an average of 12 such requests per month.