Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel is adding new details about government spending to his website laying out state expenditures. As Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports, the site will now include spending information from participating local governments.
Republican State Treasurer Josh Mandel's office is sending out letters to local governments and public schools to ask them to allow their spending to be tracked by his online checkbook. He says some have already agreed to do that and he's hoping public pressure will convince others to do the same.
"We're hoping this will change behavior when it comes to spending at the local government level," Mandel said. "We're hoping that for certain local officials that may have in the past gone to the conference in Hawaii, instead they'll think about going to the conference in Cincinnati. That instead of staying at the Ritz Carlton, perhaps in the future they'll stay at the Holiday Inn."
Mandel says his office, not local governments, will pay for the online service. He doesn't have a dollar figure for how much it will cost his office but he says the more who participate, the more the cost. But he says his office has saved six million dollars and that's more than enough to pay for all of it.