(Columbus) - Candidate for Ohio Auditor Dave Yost today proposed a plan to more closely monitor the billions of stimulus dollars now being spent in Ohio.  With billions more yet to be spent, Yost released the Interim Assessment and Real-Time Feedback proposal (here) today to strengthen the State Auditor's oversight of federal stimulus spending.

"The stimulus program has already been a disaster in so many ways," said Yost, "Now we must make sure the borrowed money already being spent doesn't make the situation even worse. We owe it to Ohio taxpayers - and the rest of the nation - to make sure this money is at least spent properly," said Yost.

Since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law in February 2009, the state of Ohio has applied for more than $8 billion in stimulus dollars for 90 different programs. 

"The Auditor of State provides an independent audit of expenditures but the work of the AOS has traditionally been performed after a fiscal year has ended, as part of the annual single audit," Yost said. This means that problems are identified when it's too late to fix them. Yost proposed that the State Auditor begin risk assessments of individual programs during the fiscal year -- before the money is spent. 

"The Auditor of State could essentially split the audit into two phases: a real-time assessment during the fiscal year, and then concluding work after the books are closed," Yost said. 

This will help Ohio avoid problems faced by other states, where ARRA spending has overwhelmed the ability of government managers to control and account for the funds. In California, for instance, the financial records accounting for $2.7 million in weatherization funds were so poor that the Governor was urged to stop the program.

State Auditor Mary Taylor has begun using interim assessments in a limited context.

"The time has come to make them a standard protocol in this new period of ramped-up federal spending," Yost said.