INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana Transparency Portal went live Tuesday, putting facts and figures on state government revenue, spending and salaries at the fingertips of every Hoosier.

"Today we have compiled more data and information in a single location than any other unit of government in Indiana -- and we aren't done yet," said state Auditor Tim Berry.

The online portal, accessible at transparency.in.gov, features charts of state spending with links to budget documents. It displays where Indiana gets its tax money, details how the state has used federal stimulus funds and links to all state contracts.

Users also can find out how much money any state employee earns with a tool that searches by employee name or state agency.

By the end of the year, Berry expects the site to host annual financial reports from all local governments and allow users to search all expenses by state agency.

By June 2011, users should be able to get a state program's budget, expenditures and performance results all displayed together following a single search.

"It's vital for government to be transparent and accountable because it isn't the state's money, it is taxpayer money, and Hoosiers deserve to have the best tools available to know how their dollars are being spent," Berry said.

State Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield, whose district includes most of Jasper County, proposed legislation earlier this year that would have required the state to develop a transparency portal. The measure was not enacted.

However, Hershman said he and fellow Republicans are extremely pleased the auditor's office developed the site anyway.

"We believed -- and still do -- that such a transparency site will be of great benefit to taxpayers," Hershman said.

Senate Democratic Leader Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, said Indiana needs more than a transparency website, it needs a change in its culture of secrecy.

"There are still huge holes in information that the public deserves to see," Simpson said. "This is just new packaging of the same old stuff."