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Ohio
Treasurer Josh Mandel...
Mandel
Releases Top-Bottom Review for Calendar Year 2011
Review
Outlines Steps to Improve Operations, Safeguard Investments, Leverage
Technology, Increase Transparency and Modernize Banking Practices
January 17, 2012
COLUMBUS -
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel released a report today outlining the
results of the
Calendar Year 2011 Top-Bottom Review.
This report builds upon findings
released at the end of the 2011 fiscal
year, and includes full calendar year results.
“In 2011, I
launched a Top-Bottom Review of the Treasurer’s office in order to
improve
operations, safeguard investments, leverage technology, protect
taxpayer
dollars, and tighten the belt of state government.
As a result of this review, we were able
to
return a $400,000 surplus at the end of the fiscal year, and adopt a
budget
that will reduce general revenue fund operating expenses by $1.2
million in the
current biennium,” said Treasurer Mandel.
“I am very
proud that we were able to affirm and improve Ohio’s credit ratings and
outlook, even in the midst of a historic downgrade of the United States
and
many other local government investment pools.
We also found many ways to run
government more like a business, by
modernizing banking practices, reprioritizing resources and eliminating
wasteful and unnecessary expenses big and small.”
Some
highlights of the Calendar Year 2011 Top-Bottom Review report include:
Ohio’s
credit rating outlook improved from “negative” to “stable,” even as the United States
was downgraded by
Standard & Poor’s and lost its “AAA” rating for the first time
in history.
STAR Ohio,
the $4 billion investment pool that the Treasurer administers on behalf
of
local governments and school districts, received the highest rating
possible
(AAAm) the same month that 14 other local government investment pools
across
the country were downgraded.
In the
midst of the European sovereign debt crisis, the Treasurer’s
conservative
investment strategy allowed Ohio taxpayers to earn back all principal
and
interest on European bank commercial paper.
The
Treasurer launched the Treasurer’s Transparency Project to allow
taxpayers to
follow their tax dollars through a fully searchable database of
government
employee salaries - for the first time in Ohio government history.
The office
eliminated the outdated practice of driving checks from Columbus to
Cleveland
every day, and replaced it with an ebanking process.
The
Treasurer discontinued the purchase or use of promotional giveaway
items with the
Treasurer’s name engraved or printed on them, and reduced or eliminated
spending on promotional materials and advertising expenses.
Across the
office, the review identified new ways to leverage technology and
modernize
banking practices, in order to improve efficiency and services for
taxpayers.
View the
full Calendar Year 2011 Top-Bottom Review report by clicking here
http://www.countynewsonline.org/news/2012/jan/mandel011712.pdf
Or go to the Treasurer’s website at
www.OhioTreasurer.gov.
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