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Officials: financial matters discussed

NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. — State officials are looking to be more transparent regarding financial matters and are rolling out a new website showing where the money is being spent.

State Auditor JB McCuskey opened Thursday’s Hancock County Commission meeting with a presentation of a new website through his office, wvcheckbook.gov, which enables residents to see what is being spent by the state’s legislators.

The website is a real-time accounting of all of the state’s revenue and spending, showing where monies have been received and particularly what monies are being spent and where and gives commissioners the ability to provide answers for its business.

“What this gives you and what this gives the state is the ability for us to communicate with our constituents in a way that everyone knows is right and is truthful,” McCuskey said. “So if somebody comes in and says ‘I need you to paint the sidewalk or you pick the project,’ and if you just don’t have the money that year, you can show them why you do or don’t have the money that year.”

Providing a demonstration on the monitor in the commission’s meeting room, McCuskey first pointed out the revenue side of the website, noting the state brings in more special revenue than general or federal revenue.

“Essentially when we ask you to pay for your audit, that comes into the state as special revenue, and when people talk about needing to reduce the size of government and to find the waste, it’s really in that piece of pie,” McCuskey said. “That’s the only place where the legislature doesn’t have a whole lot of purview over what the money is spent on.”

During the demonstration on revenue, McCuskey pointed out that the state is personal income and consumer sales tax heavy, whereas Hancock County’s taxes is largely dependent on the gaming industry.

McCuskey also presented the spending portion of the website, which provides where all of the money has been spent in the state. Users of this website can be able to put in a business name in a search engine and, if money was spent at that business, any transactions will appear with the date and the dollar amount spent. Users can also inquire what was spent by clicking on that particular expenditure and requesting more information.

McCuskey also stated that with the high price of the most recent audit on the county, which was around $35,000, the office will look to work on the audit standard to help cut down on costs and amount of overhead, adding that the current process has been too long and cumbersome and isn’t designed to what the office needs to do.

Ultimately, according to McCuskey, the goal would be for all 55 counties to see where the money is spent.

“One of the main reasons I want all the counties on this is that we’ll be able to put a website where Ohio County can look at Hancock County, and Hancock County can look at Wood County, and Wood County can look at Kanawha County, and Kanawha County can look at you name it because we all buy the same stuff,” McCuskey said. “That way we’ll all be able to find the best prices for goods for our government can buy.”

McCuskey said the state will eventually develop the site also for school districts and cities.

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