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.