Treasurer Josh Mandel Announces Launch of the City of Loveland Checkbook on OhioCheckbook.com
Momentum Grows for Statewide Government
Transparency with Over 1,360 Local Government and School Districts Partnering
with OhioCheckbook.com
LOVELAND–
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced on Tuesday the launch of the City of
Loveland’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 Loveland
Mayor Kathy Bailey, Vice Mayor Robert Weisgerber and City Councilmembers Angie
Settell, Ted Phelps, Tim Butler, Neal Oury and Kent Blair.
Loveland is the ninth city in Hamilton County to post their spending on OhioCheckbook.com. Loveland’s online
checkbook includes over 33,000 individual transactions that represent more than
$89 million of total spending over the past five
years.
“I believe the people of Hamilton 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.”
“We’re
excited to allow our residents to take a closer look at how the City spends
its’ taxpayer dollars,” said Loveland Acting Finance Director Michelle Byrde. Mayor Kathy Bailey added. "The City is proud to join the Ohio Checkbook Program, and welcome the financial transparency it offers for interested residents"
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 8, 2018 there have
been more than 939,000
total 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 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.
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.com or click on Loveland.OhioCheckbook.com.