Area villages launch online checkbooks

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LATTY — Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced the launch of the Village of Latty and the Village of Scott’s online checkbooks on OhioCheckbook.com. In December 2014, Mandel launched OhioCheckbook.com, which sets a new national standard for government transparency and for the first time in Ohio history puts all state spending information on the Internet. OhioCheckbook.com recently earned Ohio the No. 1 government transparency ranking in the country for a second year in a row.

The Ohio Treasurer’s office was joined at the announcement by Village of Latty Fiscal Officer Kay Miller and Village of Scott Fiscal Officer Hilary Yoder. Latty is the first municipality in Paulding County to post its spending on OhioCheckbook.com, and Scott is the first entity in Van Wert County to post its spending on OhioCheckbook.com.

The following is a breakdown of these two local government sites:

• Latty’s online checkbook includes over 2,200 individual transactions that represent more than $409,000 of total spending over the past four years.
• Scott’s online checkbook includes over 2,300 individual transactions that represent more than $396,000 of total spending over the past three years.

“I believe the people of Paulding County and Van Wert County have a right to know how their tax money is being spent, and I applaud local leaders here for partnering with my office to post the finances on OhioCheckbook.com,” said Mandel. “By posting local government spending online, we are empowering taxpayers across Ohio to hold public officials accountable.”

“The Village of Latty is very excited to be one of the first entities in Paulding County to allow our leaders and constituents access to this very powerful tool,” said Miller. “As Fiscal Officer, I am passionate about transparency in government. OhioCheckbook.com clearly illustrates how the Village of Latty is operating and will hopefully stimulate interest and encourage participation in our local government.”

“The Village of Scott is very excited to be the first entity in Van Wert County to allow our leaders and constituents access to this very powerful tool,” said Yoder. “OhioCheckbook.com will allow our village to become more efficient and create even stronger relationships with our citizens.”

“I applaud the Village of Latty and the Village of Scott for joining OhioCheckbook.com,” said State Senator Cliff Hite. “It is important for taxpayers to see how their tax dollars are being spent in an easy and readily available way.”

On April 7, 2015, Treasurer Mandel sent a letter to 18,062 local government and school officials representing 3,962 local governments throughout the state calling on them to place their checkbook level data on OhioCheckbook.com and extending an invitation to partner with his office at no cost to local governments.  These local governments include cities, counties, townships, schools, library districts and other special districts.

OhioCheckbook.com was launched December 2, 2014, marking the first time in Ohio history when citizens could actually see every expenditure in state government.  Since its launch, OhioCheckbook.com has received overwhelming support from newspapers and groups across the state and, as of October 17, 2016 there have been more than 646,000 total searches on the site.

OhioCheckbook.com displays more than $552 billion in spending over the past eight years, including more than 151 million transactions.  The website includes cutting-edge features such as:

• “Google-style” contextual search capabilities, to allow users to sort by keyword, department, category, or vendor;
• Fully dynamic interactive charts to drill down on state spending;
• Functionality to compare state spending year-over-year or among agencies; and,
• Capability to share charts or checks with social media networks, and direct contact for agency fiscal offices.

For more information or to view a local government website, visit the Local Government option on OhioCheckbook.com or click on Latty.OhioCheckbook.com or Scott.OhioCheckbook.com.