That may sound unreasonable — but it isn’t. Local governments and jurisdictions should already maintain this information for their accounting purposes, and they do. And, as Representative Young has noted, not only do they collect it, but they already must produce it upon taxpayer request. The proposed legislation merely would make local revenues and expenses immediately accessible online rather than require taxpayers to file elaborate public records requests and wait weeks for a response.
Credit: Avery Kreemer
Credit: Avery Kreemer
The foment over skyrocketing property taxes has been exacerbated by the lack of fiscal transparency at every level of government. Transparency helps keep Dayton area governments honest and accountable, and it reassures the area taxpayers who pay for those governments that their money is being spent appropriately to meet the public’s needs. Transparent public accounting allows residents to better understand what their government is doing and where the money is going. It encourages informed discussion and debate, leading to smarter local reforms in Montgomery County. Without fiscal transparency, people grow suspicious, questioning why their taxes increase with little sign that they’re getting more bang for more bucks.
A decade ago, Ohio became a national model for fiscal transparency. The Buckeye Institute’s public salary database inspired the Ohio treasurer to launch Ohio Checkbook, a website that gives taxpayers a clear view of state spending. Unfortunately, despite its groundbreaking and continued success, the progress made by Ohio Checkbook has not extended to the state’s labyrinth of local governments, municipalities, and taxing jurisdictions.
Some local bodies, including Montgomery County’s Huber Heights, Kettering, and Miamisburg City Schools, voluntarily submit their spending records to the Ohio Checkbook, but most local governments do not. Participation in the program by Miami Valley taxing authorities remains abysmally low, and even when local governments do participate their data entries are sporadic. The Young-Peterson proposal would help fix these problems by requiring local taxing jurisdictions to consistently make their financial records transparently available to the public.
Transparency alone will not resolve every property tax challenge. It will not, for example, reduce the tax burden or solve structural inefficiencies. But transparency is essential for reform. Once all local spending is publicly visible, state and local leaders can pursue broader property tax relief and other commonsense policies like requiring county commissioners to approve most property tax levies before placing them on the ballot, eliminating the 20-mill floor so that school districts cannot increase property taxes without a vote, and consolidating local government entities to reduce redundancies and streamline decision-making.
The simmering unrest over property taxes should remind Ohio policymakers that meaningful reform cannot wait. But that reform should start with mandatory transparency — not constitutional amendments — and every jurisdiction at every government level should be required to show their revenues and expenses. Fiscal transparency that allows Miami Valley taxpayers to hold their public officials accountable for spending and tax increases will go a long way toward meeting the people’s demand for a more efficient government at a more affordable price.
Greg R. Lawson is a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute.
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