About
Follow the Money
We believe government spending should be transparent and accessible to everyone. Misspent.io curates publicly available data from government audits, budget reports, and news investigations to surface the spending items that matter most to taxpayers.
Why This Exists
Government budgets are massive, dense, and designed to be hard to read. Audit reports gather dust. News stories come and go. The result? Billions in questionable spending flies under the radar every year.
Misspent.io changes that. We take the most notable examples of government waste — verified from public sources — and present them in a format that's easy to browse, understand, and share.
Data Sources
Every item on Misspent.io is sourced from publicly available information:
- City and state auditor reports
- Secretary of State audit findings
- Official budget documents
- Investigative journalism from OPB, Oregon Capital Chronicle, and local newspapers
- Government transparency databases
Each item includes a link to its original source so you can verify the information yourself.
The Waste Score
Each spending item includes a Waste Score from 0 to 100. This is an editorial assessment based on factors like:
- Was the money spent on its intended purpose?
- Were there adequate oversight and controls?
- Could the outcome have been achieved for less?
- Was there duplication or redundancy?
- Was taxpayer money lost with no public benefit?
The score is subjective and intended to help readers prioritize — it's not an official government metric.
Currently Tracking
We currently cover Portland, Oregon and the State of Oregon. More cities and states are coming soon.
For media inquiries, corrections, or questions: hello@misspent.io