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Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel
Village of
North Star now on OhioCheckbook.com
Momentum Grows for Statewide Government Transparency with Over 475
Local Government and School Districts Partnering with OhioCheckbook.com
NORTH STAR – Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced today the launch of
the Village of North Star online checkbook onOhioCheckbook.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
ranking in the country for government transparency.
The Ohio Treasurer’s office was joined at today’s announcement by
Village of North Star former Mayor Cory Griesdorn, Mayor Travis Wilker
and Fiscal Officer Carolyn Wilker.
The Village of North Star’s online checkbook includes over 500
individual transactions that represent more than $280,000 of total
spending over the past two years. The Village of North Star is
the first village in Darke County to post their spending online on
OhioCheckbook.com.
“I believe the people of Darke 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.”
“North Star has a very involved citizenry,” said Village of North Star
Fiscal Officer Carolyn Wilker. “I felt it was very important to
establish an open line of communication where information about the
village would be easy to access.”
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 January 19, 2016 there have been more than 435,000
total searches on the site.
OhioCheckbook.com displays more than $496 billion in spending over the
past eight years, including more than 135 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 46th to 1st 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.
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
NorthStar.OhioCheckbook.com.
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