Local Ohio governments could be forced to open their checkbooks

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(The Center Square) – A decade ago, Ohio became a model for taxpayer transparency when it created the Ohio Checkbook, opening government expenditures to public view and scrutiny.

Some local municipalities, however, found a loophole to keep spending out of easy reach of the people who pay the bills.

Two Ohio lawmakers want to close the loophole and force local governments to open their accounting books to the public.

New proposed legislation would create the Ohio Local Government Expenditure Database and require certain political subdivisions to participate.

With the current Ohio Checkbook, local governments and the state retirement system can add information available to the public if they want to.

“This legislation was brought to me by a constituent seeking increased transparency and trust between elected officials and their constituents,” Rep. Tom Young, R-Washington Township, said in testimony recently before the committee. “Currently, participation in this program is optional by all local governments, school districts and taxing jurisdictions. As a result, only 26% or 903 of the 3,420 municipalities, villages, townships, counties, school districts and special taxing districts have included their expenditures on this easy to access website.”

Young’s plan is to split the state and local accountability checkbooks into two and force counties, cities, villages, townships, public libraries, park districts, school districts, regional water and sewer districts and regional transit authorities to show their budgets, expenditures and revenues for all to see.

That, according to The Buckeye Institute Research Fellow Greg Lawson, streamlines the process to allow taxpayers to follow the money.

“Local governments and jurisdictions are already required to make tax collection and spending information available upon taxpayer request. House Bill 413 simply streamlines that process by making local revenues and expenditures immediately accessible online, eliminating the need for residents to file time-consuming public records requests and wait weeks for a response,” Lawson recently testified.

The process for a taxpayer to request and receive public information can be lengthy, cumbersome and sometimes costly, and Lawson called the timing of the new bill important.

“Whether the effort to abolish property taxes ultimately succeeds or not, House Bill 413 will shed much-needed sunlight on a dark corner of the public fisc and give local taxpayers more control of the local governments they fund,” Lawson said.