JACKSON (AP) — A private, nonprofit group is making it easier for Mississippians to see how most counties are spending public money.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy has updated its website — seethespending.org — to include six years of detailed information about spending in 62 of the 82 counties.

The center started gathering information more than a year ago by filing Public Records requests with chancery clerks, who are the top financial record keepers in the counties. People can search the center’s website to see how much money has been spent on everything from office supplies to elected officials’ travel expenses.

“In essence, we are posting the counties’ checkbook registry,” the center’s director, Forest Thigpen, said in unveiling the updated site Tuesday.

Hinds is the only county in the state that ignored the public records request, Thigpen said. He said 19 counties have said it might be difficult to provide the data in electronic form.

Thigpen said Madison County Chancery Clerk Arthur Johnson was among the officials most receptive to providing information for the website. Johnson said it took about six months for the county to remove sensitive information, such as employees’ addresses or Social Security numbers.

Johnson said he helped persuade several other chancery clerks to disclose the public information.

“I think it’s important that citizens understand how the government is spending their money. I think it gives citizens that tangible benefit,” Johnson said Tuesday.

“There’s a benefit to the counties, too, because we can see maybe instances where we might could do a better job with our purchasing,” he said. “Maybe there are better bargains out there that we’re not getting because we simply don’t know there’s a vendor that might provide this service or this product at a cheaper cost.”

Thigpen said the site could be updated in the next few months with details about counties’ budget year that ends Sept. 30.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy has posted state agencies’ budget information online since September 2010.