First GASP: Hamilton County to establish online checkbook
Friday, May 16th, 2008 By Mike Maurer
Hamilton County Commissioner Pat DeWine hopes to establish his county as the first in the United States to put all government expenditures online for public review - including everything from electronic funds transfers to purchase orders to ordinary checks.
Also included would be grants, leaseholds, contracts and subcontracts and vouchers.
“Every item of government spending is available to citizens on the Web in a way that they can easily search how the government is spending their money and who is getting their money,” DeWine said Thursday.
Named the Government Accountability in Spending Program, GASP, the project would require that each disbursement be identified by amount, the spending agency, the budget fund source, the payee name and location, the type of transaction, and the purpose of the expenditure.
DeWine said he hopes to introduce his resolution establishing GASP Wednesday, May 21.
Sandra Fabry, government liaison for Americans for Tax Reform, said GASP was one of the first efforts to apply substantial transparency standards to local government, following significant state and federal transparency initiatives in the last few years.
“It’s not a right-left issue, it’s a right-wrong issue,” Fabry said. “Government spending should not happen in the dark.”
Among models for the effort, DeWine cited the state of Alaska’s online checkbook, hosted by the state division of finance, available at http://fin.admin.state.ak.us/dof/checkbook_online/index.jsp
