Bill requires local governments to input financial data on The Ohio Checkbook

Proposed legislation would require Ohio’s governments to publicly post information about their finances, and proponents said the measure could help address the state’s ongoing property tax crisis.

House Bill 413 would mandate local governments and taxing jurisdictions to disclose their revenue sources and expenditures in a uniform, searchable format, making them available to all residents throughout the state.

Under the measure, political subdivisions would need to enter information about expenditures and revenues on The Ohio Checkbook. The website was created in 2015 to increase transparency, but using it is optional.

“The bill would require every local government entity and taxing authority in Ohio to disclose their revenues and expenditures in a standardized, searchable format accessible to all residents,” Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, said in prepared testimony to the Ohio House Technology and Innovation Committee. “If enacted, counties, cities, school districts, library boards, pension systems, and more than 6,500 taxing jurisdictions would be required to record and publish detailed information showing how they raise and spend every public dollar in their coffers.

“Local governments and jurisdictions already maintain this information for their own accounting purposes, and they must produce it upon taxpayer request under existing public records laws,” Lawson added. “House Bill 413 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. New artificial intelligence software and plug-in platforms now make this kind of fiscal transparency far more affordable than it once was.”

In previously prepared sponsor testimony, state Rep. Tom Young, R-Washington Twp., said only about 26% of the 3,420 eligible jurisdictions, or 903, have posted their expenditures on the site.

“At a time when voters across Ohio express growing concern about how their tax dollars are being
managed, transparency is the surest way to rebuild confidence in government stewardship,” Americans for Prosperity-Ohio Legislative Director Hannah Kubbins said in prepared testimony.

“Journalists, policy researchers, and everyday citizens gain tools to analyze where tax dollars go and how efficiently they are used,” Kubbins added. “Transparency doesn’t just deter waste and abuse — it encourages better decision-making. When local officials know that every expenditure can be easily reviewed by the public, they make more prudent fiscal choices. That visibility, in turn, helps citizens see value for their taxes and increases confidence that public officials are being good stewards of their money.”

In prepared testimony, Kent Scarrett, the executive director of the Ohio Municipal League, told lawmakers that many jurisdictions make financial data publicly available, including through their websites.

“While we support efforts to promote transparency, we caution against creating new layers of reporting that may be redundant or administratively burdensome,” Scarrett said.

“Municipalities vary greatly in size, staff capacity, and technological resources,” Scarrett added. “For many smaller communities, compiling, formatting, and uploading data to a new system could require staff time or software modifications that come at a real cost. Even if the bill intends to utilize existing resources, practical implementation could still create an unfunded mandate if additional administrative work is required without state support.”