Share Ohio helps local governments share equipment, save tax dollars

By Auditor of State Dave Yost

If your neighbor stops by and asks to borrow your 4-pound sledgehammer, you wouldn’t hesitate to share, would you?

It just makes sense – you only use the tool on a rare occasion, so it sits idle in the toolbox most of the time. Why should your neighbor go out and buy a new one when yours is available?

That’s the idea behind Share Ohio – neighboring communities sharing resources to save tax dollars.

ShareOhio.gov is a new website recently launched by our office to make it easier for governments to share capital equipment, like bulldozers and front loaders.

At no cost to local governments, ShareOhio.gov allows entities to enter heavy equipment into a database for the purpose of loaning to and borrowing from other nearby communities.

Users have the ability to track inventory within each department and facilitate internal sharing of equipment as well. To help management make better inventory decisions, ShareOhio.gov also includes a feature that measures utilization rates for each piece of equipment and provides a variety of reports to help monitor usage.

The impetus for Share Ohio came from an Auditor of State 2012 equipment utilization study of 24 governments in Lake County.

The study found that some capital equipment was used as little as 3 percent of the time, or about one day a month. The results clearly supported the need for better tracking and sharing of equipment to boost usage rates and save tax dollars.

Interest in ShareOhio.gov has grown quickly across the state with 42 local governments registered to share on the site in just the first few weeks.

I encourage all governments to join with their neighbors and share resources for better efficiency and savings across the state.

Signing up is easy – visit www.shareohio.gov and click “Register.” Create an account, input your equipment, and start sharing!