SB 1851 - Financial transparency for Cities

SB 1851 ensures that cities in Texas stay accountable by tying financial transparency to their ability to raise property taxes. If a city fails to conduct a required financial audit or doesn’t file its audit report on time, it would be barred from raising property taxes above the no-new-revenue rate until it fixes the issue. This helps keep local governments transparent and discourages fiscal mismanagement. For taxpayers, it’s a win—it stops cities from increasing taxes while hiding how they’ve spent public money.