Financial Transparency

The City of Corsicana's Financial Transparency Reports include the following:

  • Annual Budget: This is the financial plan that is prepared before the beginning of each fiscal year. The budget preparation process extends over several months and it includes careful deliberation on how to allocate limited resources to meet the priorities identified by the citizens of Corsicana. Beginning with the Fiscal Year 2015 Annual Budget, a raw format annual budget as been provided to increase the ease with which the City's budget may be downloaded and analyzed by taxpayers or other users.
  • Texas Comptroller's Annual Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Report (PDF)
  • Comprehensive Annual Financial Report: This report contains the financial information on what actually has occurred after the fiscal year is completed along with comments from an external auditor who has conducted various internal control tests and reviewed the financial statements. Fiscal year 2013 was the first year that the City completed a comprehensive annual financial report, rather than just an annual financial report.
  • Cash Disbursement Registers:The third category of documents is the City's cash disbursement registers. These are divided into two sub-categories: Weekly Check Registers and Cash Account Transaction Registers or Cash Activity Summary .
    • Weekly Check Register: The Weekly Check Register, which lists payments to vendors, was added in September, 2009. The weekly check register provides additional transparency for City business transactions and depicts which vendors are being utilized to provide various goods and services in support of the budget plan.

      Cash Account Transaction Register: The monthly Cash Account Transaction Register was added in October, 2010 to further provide financial transparency for the City. The Cash Account Transaction Register report was eliminated in the summer of 2013, and a different report was selected to provide more transparency to our Citizens or other interested parties.

      Cash Activity Summary: The Cash Activity Summary was added during the summer of 2013, to enable our citizens to better understand the cash activity for the City. Questions about where the City's money comes from - or where the City's money is spent are more easily answered with this report. It summarizes cash deposits and disbursements into categories, but excludes transfers from one fund to another. These transfers are budgeted as cash outlflows from the paying fund and cash inflows to the receiving fund. The actual cash disbursement is recorded.
       
  • Monthly Financial Report: This report provides a summarized view of revenues and expenditures for major funds. This financial report compares actual revenues and expenditures to date with the same period in the previous fiscal year. Incremental budget appropriations and current year forecasts are provided along with additional supporting schedules and analysis. This report is generally prepared for release by the 15th of each month following the close of the reporting period.
  • Debt Information: The City's debt information is provided for both current obligations and total obligations, as related to the debt service funds for the General Government, Utility Fund, and Sanitation Fund. The schedules (PDF) are obligations for the City as of October 1 of each year. In addition, the Mayor has signed a Debt Transparency Pledge, pledging to post details about any upcoming bond elections no later than one business day after the notice of the bond election is posted. The pledge also includes notifying the Comptroller's office of the upcoming bond election as well, when the details of the bond election are published. For more information regarding transparency in local government, at the Texas Transparency website. Specific information related to the local debt information may be found by clicking this link, City of Corsicana's Debt at a Glance. The required Annual Local Debt Report for the City is also located on the State Comptroller's Transparency webpage.

Other important information that the City of Corsicana has included for transparency is as follows:

  • Investment and Collateralization Policy (PDF): This Investment and Collateralization Policy is authorized by the City Council in accordance with Texas Government Code, Chapter 2256, also cited as the Public Funds Investment Act, to satisfy the statutory requirements to define, adopt, and review a written investment policy regarding the investment of its funds and funds under its control. It is also written to satisfy the statutory requirements of the Public Funds Collateral Act, Chapter 2257 of the Texas Government Code. This policy has been reviewed and has received the Certificate of Distinction issued by the Government Treasurers' Organization of Texas.
  • Financial Policy (PDF): The City of Corsicana Financial Policy was established to provide sound guidelines in providing for the City's financial future. This policy will help ensure long-term financial stability and a healthy financial position for the City.
  • Tax Rates for the City of Corsicana are as follows:

Ad Valorem Tax Rate - $0.5288/$100 of Valuation; and
Sales Tax Rate - 8.25% of Taxable Sales.

More information about Tax Rates for the City of Corsicana and the surrounding areas, including Corsicana ISD, Navarro College, and Navarro County, may be found on the City's Fast Facts (PDF) page.