Mahoning posts expenditures to online checkbook

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Mahoning County Auditor Ralph T. Meacham and Ohio’s State Treasurer Josh Mandel have released Mahoning County’s expenditures on ohiocheckbook.com.

When Mandel came before the Mahoning County commissioners in April to promote the government accountability program, Meacham announced that Mahoning County would be the first Ohio county to join the Internet-based system to provide financial information to taxpayers.

“I am excited to be on the forefront of the government transparency initiative started by Treasurer Mandel,” Meacham said Thursday.

Ohiocheckbook.com is a first-of-its-kind government transparency website that shows taxpayers exactly how their money is being spent, Mandel’s office said.

The initiative is designed to set a new national standard for transparency in state government and is designed to make government more open and accountable to taxpayers by allowing Ohioans to follow their tax dollars and see how public money is being spent, Mandel’s office added.

Mandel launched the checkbook initiative last year, putting all state spending online for the first time in the state’s history.

The state’s checkbook includes more than $408 billion in spending over the past seven fiscal years, displaying about 112 million transactions and about 3.9 billion pieces of spending information.

“Taxpayers have the right to know how their money is spent. This is just the first of several transparency initiatives by the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office,” Meacham said.

Mahoning County’s information will be available either through the state’s checkbook website or the county auditor’s website, Meacham said.

It will show checks written to vendors over the past six years and the amount, payee, date and purpose of each check, Meacham said.

Excluded from the web- site are confidential checks, such as welfare checks and certain confidential law enforcement and court-related checks, Meacham said.

Paychecks written to individual county employees and their annual salaries are not currently on the website.

“We have more work to do on that,” Meacham said of getting the county paychecks on the web site.

County employees’ annual salaries are not on the website either, but Meacham said he hopes they’ll eventually be there.

The website will be updated at least annually, and possibly semi-annually or quarterly, he said.

More than 100 counties, cities, school boards and other public agencies began posting details of how they spend public monies Thursday, with more to follow suit in coming weeks and months.

“This is the first time in the United States and the first time in the state of Ohio where citizens will be able to go online and see the finances of cities, counties, school districts and local governments...,” Mandel said.

The online checkbooks cost more than $900,000 to develop. Last month, the state Controlling Board OK’d up to $2.7 million for the efforts, including $1.3 million in spending authority during the current fiscal year and $1.4 million in fiscal year 2017.

The funds are going to OpenGov, a California company contracted to complete the work. Total spending will be based on how many local offices decide to take part.

“Some of you may know about Mahoning County,” said Meacham, who was on hand with Mandel for Thursday’s announcement. “We’ve had 60 elected officials incarcerated over the last 20 years. ... My predecessor left under a cloud, I took office a week early... The place was crying for accountability.”