Indiana State Auditor Suzanne Crouch is looking to raise the profile of the auditor’s office.
The former Republican State Representative and Vanderburgh County Auditor paid a visit to Knox on Wednesday to meet with Starke County officials. The state auditor oversees payroll, local government distributions, and bill payments.
During her visit, Crouch said the office is working to increase transparency.
“I always say the more transparent government is, the more accountable we are, and the more the taxpayer knows about what their government is doing, the better job their government is going to do for them,” says Crouch.
Crouch met with Starke County Auditor Kay Chaffins to discuss the plans of the state office. She says efforts are also underway to show the integral nature of auditor positions at county level. Part of that is providing better support and increasing transparency.
The state auditor’s office plans to provide additional information on the highly ranked Indiana Transparency Portal. The website allows taxpayers to review financial information at the state level, but also provides links to county government information.
Crouch says the website was developed with existing resources.
“So we’re looking at how we can provide more information,” says Crouch. “We’re going to put more information out about the procurement cards that state employees use. That is information we’re going to be putting out there. We also are looking at quasi-government agencies.”
Some of those agencies include the Indiana Board of Depositories and the Indiana Finance Authority.
Starke County says it is looking to improve the available information on its own website. Chaffins says her offices can be contacted through e-mail for suggestions.
