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A small group of lawmakers wants to make the school system's and county government's respective business transactions more open to the public.

Del. Alfred C. Carr Jr. said Monday that he would file a bill to require the county school system to publish details on contracts of $10,000 and up on its Web site.

Similarly, County Council Vice President Roger Berliner is proposing legislation that would require the county's chief administrative officer to develop a searchable database on the Montgomery County Web site detailing payouts of $25,000 or more by the county.

If passed by the General Assembly in Annapolis, Carr's bill would pertain only to the Montgomery school system.

"The goal of the bill is just to make our government more transparent by putting more of the spending into an online, searchable database," said Carr (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington. "It just encourages ordinary citizens to participate in government."

The bill has not been introduced yet and is "just an idea" right now, Carr said. It must undergo a public hearing and be approved by the county delegation before it can be filed in Annapolis.

The bill aims to amend a similar law passed by state lawmakers last session.

The Maryland Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2008 required the state's Department of Budget and Management to develop a searchable Web site of payments greater than $25,000.

The state legislation, which was supported by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, unanimously passed both the House and Senate. The state database currently is available through the Budget and Management section of the state's Web site.

Parent activist Sheldon Fishman said that while the county school system is a state agency, it was not required by the state to abide by the law.

"The goal here is to achieve the purpose of accountability and transparency by fixing a technical error," said Fishman, a member of the county's Parents Coalition. "I see it not as a challenge and a threat, but an opportunity for the school system to expand their support from the community."

School officials would have to look at Carr's bill and examine its details before offering a comment, said Steve Simon, a spokesman for the county school system.

The school board is working with Carr to answer questions and will review the bill's language and fiscal implications once it is drafted, school board President Shirley Brandman wrote in an e-mail.

"We, of course, share his commitment to transparency of our business activities for the citizens of Montgomery County, but we do not yet have the specific details of his proposal," wrote Brandman (At-large) of Bethesda.

"In these troubled financial times, we want to ensure that funding for the provision of educational services to our students is not compromised."

The transparency requirements also would extend to county government under Berliner's legislation. The guidelines would apply to any contractor or grant and loan recipient receiving more than $25,000 from the county in fiscal year.

"The more transparency in government the better," said Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac. "This is one way of allowing everyone to get at understanding where county dollars are going. In the same way that the president-elect is seeking to empower our citizenry, this is a concurrent attempt to do the same."

Later this month, the county's Department of General Services plans to post its own searchable database of county contracts on the county's Web site, which potentially could duplicate information in Berliner's proposed database.

At a given time, the county has about 1,700 active contracts, including spot purchases and long-term contracts, said David Dise, director of General Services.

Democratic President-elect Barack Obama and his Republican campaign opponent, Sen. John McCain, were key sponsors of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which launched a Web site of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds.

The Web site, USAspending.gov, launched in December 2007. The site is estimated to cost $15 million to implement and operate from 2007 to 2011. The federal legislation was unanimously approved by both houses of Congress.

Costs for the state database included about $90,000 to develop the site, as well as an estimated $200,000 spread over two years for a required feasibility study on possible expansion of the database.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) has tentatively supported Berliner's plan, but has concerns about the development costs. The county faces a $450 million deficit in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

"Anything that increases transparency in county government, we are in favor of it," said Leggett spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield. "The question is in terms of tight fiscal times, what is doable in the short run regarding the choices we have to make. It is also more a question of timing and the need for more flexibility to implement the database."

Berliner is set to introduce his database bill during the council's first session of the year on Jan. 13.

The legislation will be introduced as part of an initiative by Council President Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg to expand transparency in county government.

If approved, the bill would take effect July 1, but the database could be phased in over two years depending on the costs.