Let Taxpayers See ‘Checkbook’
Taxpayers in Belmont County’s Mead Township have a powerful new tool to hold trustees accountable — thanks to the trustees themselves.
State Treasurer Josh Mandel announced Mead has become the third township in Belmont County to participate in his online OhioCheckbook program (the others are Pease and Warren).
Mandel’s program allows local governments, including school districts, municipalities, townships and counties, to provide detailed information about their spending. It is available through the ohiocheckbook.com website.
Unfortunately, though Mandel’s office made the program available to more than 18,000 local government officials throughout Ohio, just a few hundred have signed up for it since it was launched in December 2014. No East Ohio county is participating, and only a few other local government entities have signed up.
Why not?
Time, expertise and money are factors, of course. Providing the check-by-check records available through the program is not an easy task.
But even some small local government units with very limited resources have found ways to do it. Among East Ohio school districts in the program is Switzerland of Ohio (others in our area include Martins Ferry, Steubenville and Union Local districts).
Good for East Ohio officials who have made the decision to participate in one of the most important government accountability projects to come down the pike in many years.
For those not participating, taxpayers ought to be asking, “What are you waiting for?”
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