Posted: 12:50 p.m. Monday, July 6, 2015

Liberty Twp. first in Butler County to join Treasurer Mandel’s program

By Michael D. Pitman

Staff Writer

LIBERTY TWP. — 

Transition:

While Liberty Twp. is the first Butler County government to particiapte in the OhioCheckbook.com program, it’s not the only entity interested in participating.

The city of Monroe launched its version of transparency

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced this morning beside Liberty Twp. officials the township is the first in Butler County to participate in his office’s OhioCheckbook.com, an online accounting of the expenditures in state government.

More than 130 local governments around Ohio, including a handful in Southwest Ohio and the Miami Valley area, have agreed to participate by putting their expenditures online in a searchable database.

The state expenditures are online now, but local government spending is scheduled to be online by Labor Day, Mandel said at today’s press conference at the Liberty Twp. Administration Building.

Mandel launched OhioCheckbook.com seven months ago, and in April sent a letter to more than 18,000 public officials representing nearly 4,000 local governments around Ohio calling on them to place their checkbook-level data on OhioCheckbook.com.

“I believe the people of Butler County have a right to know how their tax money is being spent and I applaud local leaders here for partnering with the treasurer’s office to post their finances on OhioCheckbook.com,” Mandel said. “My vision is to create an army of citizen watchdogs who are empowered to hold public officials accountable.”

Liberty Twp. Trustee President David Kern said the township has “a lot of pride” in fiscal responsibility, and “our audit history and the way we’ve handled our financial records.”

“This is another accolade for our great finance team and a super way to provide transparency to our residents,” Kern said.

Liberty Twp. is the sixth township in Ohio to participate. Others include:

·                       Darby Twp.

·                       Danbury Twp.

·                       Harlan Twp.

·                       Ohio Twp.

·                       Sugarcreek Twp.