Prince George’s County elected officials soon could find their expenses under greater scrutiny when they leave office.

A bill introduced at the Sept. 13 County Council meeting would require county auditors to examine the accounts maintained by elected officials when they leave office.

“It seems like a good-government thing to do,” said Councilman Eric Olson (D-Dist. 3) of College Park. “This is the public’s money.”

Olson co-sponsored the bill with Council Chairwoman Ingrid Turner (D-Dist. 4) of Bowie, who said the bill would hold council members and the county executive to the same standard as county department supervisors, who are subject to audits by the county when their employment ends.

The bill calls for an audit “upon the death, resignation, removal or expiration of the term” of a council member or county executive. If a council member is found to owe money to the county, the county executive is tasked with collecting the debt; if the county executive owes money, the council will collect the debt.

As the bill is written, an audit would be done after each four-year term, regardless of whether the official has been re-elected, Turner said.

The bill follows the recent scandal involving former County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and his wife, former Councilwoman Leslie Johnson (D-Dist. 6) of Mitchellville, which Olson said called attention to issues of accountability and transparency. Jack Johnson pleaded guilty in May to charges of extortion and evidence tampering related to development deals; his wife pleaded guilty June 30 to conspiracy to commit witness and evidence tampering related to a corruption probe, and resigned from the county a month later. Both await sentencing.

Turner said the bill was not a direct response to the Johnsons’ cases, but was intended to increase transparency in county government.

Requiring such audits as a matter of policy is not a common practice but should be, said Marta Mossburg, a senior fellow with the nonprofit Maryland Public Policy Institute, which monitors state policy issues.

“I think it’s a great idea. It would help keep people more honest,” Mossburg said, adding that it also could be useful to examine the expenses of the aides and staffers of elected officials, as well.

Acquiring data on the expenses of public officials often requires formal public information requests, which can take weeks and don’t always yield thorough information, Mossburg said.

The audits of department supervisors usually take a single auditor about three or four weeks, said county auditor David Van Dyke. Adding elected officials to the mix isn’t expected to create a serious increase in the auditors’ workloads, Van Dyke said. The county currently employs 16 auditors.

Hyattsville activist Judy Robinson said she was pleased with the idea of the audits but felt they should occur every year, with periodic reviews made by outside auditors.

“It’s a marvelous idea, if they do it the right way,” Robinson said.