Counties

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, spending by local governments in Texas has grown from $66 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $104 billion in fiscal year 2007—an increase of 58 percent. Statewide population growth plus inflation only increased by 34 percent over the same period.

This growth in local government spending makes online financial transparency essential. With so much money flowing through the system, it is critical the public understand how and why their tax dollars being spent locally so that they can make intelligent decisions about whether such spending increases or decreases are needed.

To help the public in their effort, TexasBudgetSource continually analyzes several budgets, check registers, and financial statements of local governments around the state (where available) and summarized the information without the jargon.

In this section, you will find a general overview of how counties collect and spend your tax dollars, examples of counties which are excelling and those who are not, and a quick summary of how the county budget process works.