Columbus – Sharing a single treasurer or superintendent or both at the Barnesville Exempted Village and Union Local school districts (Belmont County) is supported by a performance audit released today by Auditor of State Dave Yost. The work, part of a larger collaboration including the University of Cincinnati, Ohio University and the East Central Ohio Educational Service Center, was funded by a state grant from the Local Government Innovation Fund.

“By their thoughtful, active, and forward-looking management, these two Belmont County schools have made themselves state leaders in government efficiency,” Yost said. “They took advantage of available resources to look for ways to save taxpayer money while still providing good services.”

The two districts applied for a state grant in February 2012 and were awarded $100,000 to support “Project SHARE,” a feasibility, benchmarking and staffing analysis to determine whether high-level administrative positions could be combined.

In addition to the Auditor of State’s office, participants in Project SHARE included the East Central Educational Service Center, which facilitated the project; the HRO agency, which prepared job descriptions; Pepple & Waggoner, legal services; and the University of Cincinnati and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University, which conducted overall research and reporting.

The report released today is only one component of Project SHARE, focusing on reallocating workloads of existing administrative positions and reducing employee costs. The final Project SHARE report is expected to be released at a later date.

The Auditor of State’s Ohio Performance Team conducts performance audits by request and in cases of fiscal distress of local governments, including Ohio public school districts.

A full copy of this performance audit may be accessed online.

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio, is responsible for auditing more than 5,700 state and local government agencies.  Under the direction of Auditor Dave Yost, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies and promotes transparency in government.

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Carrie Bartunek
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614-644-1111