In December 2014, Mandel launched OhioCheckbook.com, which sets a new national standard for government transparency and for the first time in Ohio history puts all state spending information on the internet. OhioCheckbook.com recently earned Ohio the number one government transparency ranking in the country for the second year in a row.
Orange Township is the second township in Meigs County to post their spending on OhioCheckbook.com. Orange Township’s online checkbook includes over 1,400 individual transactions that represent more than $834,000 of total spending over the past five years.
“I believe the people of Meigs County have a right to know how their tax money is being spent, and I applaud local leaders here for partnering with my office to post the finances on OhioCheckbook.com,” said Mandel in a news release. “By posting local government spending online, we are empowering taxpayers across Ohio to hold public officials accountable.”
“Orange Township is happy to partner with State Treasurer Josh Mandel on the Ohio Checkbook transparency initiative,” said Orange Township Fiscal Officer Deborah Watson in the news release. “The OhioCheckbook.com program provides an exciting opportunity to implement transparency for the benefit of the taxpayers. This web tool is available at no cost to the township and will allow the people of Orange Township to see how their hard earned tax dollars are being spent. Our citizens now have access to our spending information in a convenient and interactive format.”
On April 7, 2015 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.
A large coalition of statewide and local government organizations 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
- Common Cause Ohio
OhioCheckbook.com displays more than $644 billion in spending over the past ten years, including more than 173 million transactions. The website includes cutting-edge features such as:
- “Google-style” contextual search capabilities, to allow users to sort by keyword, department, category or vendor;
- Fully dynamic interactive charts to drill down on state spending;
- Functionality to compare state spending year-over-year or among agencies; and,
- Capability to share charts or checks with social media networks, and direct contact for agency fiscal offices.
In April 2016, U.S. PIRG announced that Mandel earned Ohio the number one government transparency ranking in the country for the second consecutive year in a row. Due to the launch of OhioCheckbook.com, Ohio again received the highest perfect score of 100 points this year – marking the second time in two years Ohio received the highest possible score in the history of the U.S. PIRG transparency rankings.
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. We are excited to partner with the Treasurer’s office to bring world-class technology to communities large and small across the state,” said Zachary Bookman, CEO of OpenGov.
©2018 The Daily Sentinel (Pomeroy, Ohio) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
