About Texas Open Books
Texas Open Books is a nonpartisan site that shows residents exactly where their money goes. It brings full transparency to local special districts and tracks every dollar of public money they spend, so every district is held to the same standard of accountability.
Why it exists
Millions of Texans live inside special districts: municipal utility districts, improvement districts, water control districts and management districts. These districts levy property taxes, issue bonds that homeowners repay for decades, and reimburse developers for roads, pipes, ponds and parks. Their records are public, but they are scattered across law-firm offices, state filings, county records and PDF links. Few residents know the districts exist, let alone what they spend.
What it does
- Collects every public record each district publishes: agendas, minutes, financial reports, audits, bond documents, rate orders. Each source is checked on a published schedule.
- Requests what isn't published, under the Texas Public Information Act, after every meeting, bond sale, fiscal year end and tax rate adoption. It tracks every legal deadline in business days.
- Checks each district against the rules it must follow: open meetings, audits, investment and conflict-of-interest rules, and the state's rules on reimbursing developers. Each district has a checklist showing what is met, what isn't, and the record behind each answer.
- Flags what's missing or late: records that stop coming in, minutes never posted, deadlines missed, documents that don't match their labels.
- Follows the money, from your tax bill and each bond issue to the projects, contracts and invoices they paid for. The goal is to trace every dollar.
Nonpartisan, by design
Texas Open Books takes no side on any party, candidate, election or policy. It doesn't say what a district should do. It shows what the public record says the district did, asks open questions where the record is incomplete or inconsistent, and names the document that would answer each one. The same standard applies to every district.
Run by residents
Volunteer Responsible Residents look after their own districts. They attend and record meetings, upload records, and approve the records requests sent in their name. Every upload is reviewed before it's published, and every letter to a board needs two people's agreement. Private residents are never named. Officials are named only in their public roles.
What it doesn't do
It gives no legal advice, speaks for no district, endorses no one, and never sends a request or letter without a person approving it.