School district’s online checkbook includes more than 40,000 individual transactions that represent more than $48 million of total spending over the past two fiscal years.

COLUMBUS – Galion City Schools is the latest district to join OhioCheckbook.com. In December 2014, Ohio Treasurer 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.

“I believe the people of Crawford 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.”

Galion City Schools is the third school district in Crawford County to post their spending on OhioCheckbook.com. The Galion City School District’s online checkbook includes over 40,000 individual transactions that represent more than $48 million of total spending over the past two fiscal years.

“Galion City Schools is proud to join the other school districts in the state in sharing with our citizens how their taxpayer dollars are spent,” said Charlene Parkinson, Treasurer, Galion City School District.

For more information or to view Galion City School’s website, visit the Local Government option on OhioCheckbook.com or click on GalionCitySchools.OhioCheckbook.com.

OhioCheckbook.com recently earned Ohio the No. 1 government transparency ranking in the country for the third year in a row.

In 2015, 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.

A large coalition of statewide and local government organizations have expressed support for OhioCheckbook.com and local government transparency, including:

· Ohio Municipal League

· Ohio Township Association

· Ohio Association of School Business Officials

· Buckeye Association of School Administrators

· County Commissioner Association of Ohio

· County Auditor Association of Ohio

· Ohio Newspaper Association

· Ohio Society of CPAs

· Buckeye Institute

· Common Cause Ohio

OhioCheckbook.com was launched on 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 August 14, 2018 there have been more than 996,000 total searches on the site.

OhioCheckbook.com displays more than $667 billion in spending over the past ten years, including more than 181 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.