The Village of Jeffersonville has entered into a partnership with the Ohio Treasurer’s Office in an effort to be transparent with its spending.
Last year, Treasurer Josh Mandel launched OhioCheckbook.com, which Mandel said sets a new national standard for government transparency and for the first time in Ohio history puts all state spending information on the internet. According to Mandel, OhioCheckbook.com recently earned Ohio the number one ranking in the country for government transparency.
The Village of Jeffersonville is the first local government in Fayette County to partner with the Ohio Treasurer’s Office to post its spending online at OhioCheckbook.com.
On April 7, Mandel sent a letter to 18,062 local government and school officials representing 3,962 local governments throughout the state, calling on them to place their checkbook level data on OhioCheckbook.com and extending an invitation to partner with his office at no cost to local governments. These local governments include cities, counties, townships, schools, library districts and other special districts.
“I believe the people of Fayette County have a right to know how their tax money is being spent and I applaud local leaders here for partnering with the treasurer’s office to post their finances on OhioCheckbook.com,” Mandel said. “My vision is to create an army of citizen watchdogs who are empowered to hold public officials accountable.”
Carol Rausch, the Village of Jeffersonville fiscal officer, said, “Jeffersonville is thrilled to be on the forefront of the transparency initiative being offered by Treasurer Mandel’s office at no cost to local governments. Our residents have a right to know where their tax dollars are being spent and we are more than happy to provide that information.”
Mandel provided a list of statewide and local government organizations that have expressed support for OhioCheckbook.com and local government transparency, including: Ohio Municipal League, Ohio Township Association, Ohio Association of School Business Officials, Buckeye Association of School Administrators, County Commissioner Association of Ohio, County Auditor Association of Ohio, Ohio Newspaper Association, Ohio Society of CPAs, Buckeye Institute, and Common Cause Ohio.
OhioCheckbook.com was launched on Dec. 2, 2014, marking the first time in Ohio history when citizens could actually see every expenditure in state government, according to Mandel. Since its launch, OhioCheckbook.com has received overwhelming support from newspapers and groups across the state, and as of Monday, there have been more than 401,000 total searches on the site.
The site displays more than $490 billion in spending over the past eight years, including more than 134 million transactions.
The Treasurer’s office is partnering with OpenGov, a leading Silicon Valley government technology company, to provide residents of Ohio the ability to view and search local government expenditures in a user-friendly, digital format. “Ohio is setting the standard for financial transparency on an unprecedented scale,” said Zachary Bookman, CEO of OpenGov. “We are excited to partner with the Treasurer’s office to bring world-class technology to communities large and small across the state.”
For more information visit OhioCheckbook.com.
