Andrei Cherny, the Democratic candidate for Arizona treasurer, said if elected he would use the office's authority to audit government spending from the Legislature down to the local level.
"If local governments have one-third of their revenue coming from state-shared revenue, taxpayers have a right to know where that money is being spent," he said last week at the annual conference of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns.
Cherny cited newspaper reports of excessive city salaries and misuse of city-issued credit cards as the cause for his concern.
"We shouldn't have to wait for newspapers," he said.
Ken Strobeck, the league's executive director, said the additional audits are not needed, as state law already requires annual audits by local governments. He said the audits are available to the public and are often posted on a city's website.
Cherny is competing with Republican candidate Doug Ducey in the Nov. 2 election to succeed current Treasurer Dean Martin.
