Momentum Grows for Statewide Government Transparency with Over 1,350 Local Government and School Districts Partnering with OhioCheckbook.com

MASON– Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced today the launch of Deerfield Township’s online checkbook on OhioCheckbook.com.  In December 2014, Treasurer 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.    

The Ohio Treasurer’s office was joined at the announcement by Deerfield Township Board of Trustees President Lelle Lutts-Hedding and Trustees Lonnie Vestal and Kristin Malhotra. 

Deerfield Township is the ninth township in Warren County to post their spending on OhioCheckbook.com.  Deerfield Township’s online checkbook includes over 11,300 individual transactions that represent more than $37.5 million of total spending over the past two years.   

“I believe the people of Warren 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 Treasurer Mandel.  “By posting local government spending online, we are empowering taxpayers across Ohio to hold public officials accountable.”

“Every member of our board takes our obligation to ensure transparency to the citizens of Deerfield Township very seriously,” said Lelle Lutts-Hedding, president of the Deerfield Township Board of Trustees. “As more of our personal transactions are done online, it only makes sense that our public finance information is also easily accessible. We encourage our residents to use OhioCheckbook.com to learn more about how taxpayer money is spent in the township and we are thrilled to partner with Treasurer Mandel on this initiative.”

On April 7, 2015 Treasurer 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 was launched on December 2, 2014, marking the first time in Ohio history when citizens could actually see every expenditure in state government.  Since its launch, OhioCheckbook.com has received overwhelming support from newspapers and groups across the state and, as of April 1, 2018 there have been more than 935,000total searches on the site. 

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 March 2015, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) released their annual “Following the Money 2015” report and Treasurer Mandel earned Ohio the number one transparency ranking in the country for providing online access to government spending data.  Ohio was prominently featured in the report after climbing from 46^th to 1^st in spending transparency as a result of Treasurer Mandel’s release of OhioCheckbook.com.  Due to the launch of OhioCheckbook.com, Ohio received a perfect score of 100 points this year – the highest score in the history of the U.S. PIRG transparency rankings.

In April 2016, U.S. PIRG announced that Treasurer 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.

For more information or to view your local government website, visit the Local Government option on OhioCheckbook.comor click on DeerfieldTownshipWarren.OhioCheckbook.com.

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