A public policy institute has ranked Fluvanna County government the 13th most transparent in Virginia, out of 134 jurisdictions surveyed. Albemarle County came in at 15th, while Charlottesville ranks 22nd.

The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a non-partisan research and education organization, released the report. The study is the first analysis by the institute, which aims to help local governments focus on making financial documents available to residents online.

The institute ranked localities based in part on the accessibility, clarity and level of detail of documents related to budgets and contracts with businesses, as well as spending records.

Louisa County ranked 53rd; Orange County, 55th; Madison County, 62nd; Buckingham, 77th; Nelson, 93rd; and Greene, 109th.

Albemarle received perfect marks in the categories of portal page, archives, context, advertised budget, adopted budget, data to program level, timeliness and online checkbooks.

“Transparency in our financial matters has always been a very important objective for the county,” Albemarle County Executive Robert W. Tucker Jr. said in a statement. “And we believe that open and accessible budget information helps build trust in how Albemarle is spending tax dollars particularly in these challenging economic times.”

The entire report can be found at http://www.thomasjeffersoninst.org.