Stolman Announces Initiative to Develop Lake County Ledger

David Stolman, Republican candidate for Lake County Treasurer, announced today the second half of his transparency initiative for the Lake County Treasurer’s office. If elected, he will develop a searchable ledger for Lake County’s finances.

“We will develop a searchable, public database of all of Lake County’s finances so that the public can have full and easy access to our records, reports and analyses,” explained Stolman. “The database will be modeled after the Ledger (http://ledger.illinoiscomptroller.com/) developed by Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, a resource that makes government an ‘open book’ with a ‘full accounting for public dollars.’”

Lake County has won numerous transparency awards for good government, and David Stolman has been at the forefront of those efforts by initiating the publishing of the County’s checkbook online. Currently, Lake County posts all revenues, expenditures, contracts and salaries online in PDF format. While this is very transparent, it is not easy for the public to navigate, search, or digest.

“My goal is to better equip the public to hold government accountable for how their hard-earned tax dollars are spent. The only long-term way to lower our property taxes in Lake County is to get spending under control at every level of government. If Lake County can continue to lead the way as a fiscally responsible and fully transparent government entity, my hope is that local governments throughout Lake County will continue to follow our lead so we can finally reduce the heavy burden property taxes places on our families.”

About David Stolman: