2025-015 Travel Records December 13, 2024 Report No. 2025-015
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT:
Publishing Council Member Travel Expenses
BACKGROUND:
On Oct. 16, 2024, Council Member McGee presented a two-minute pitch to publish all council
member travel records and expenses on the City website and update the public records quarterly
or as the City Manager determines necessary. On Oct. 22, 2024, the Council gave direction to
provide an Informal Staff Report to discuss how much work it will take to complete the request
and requirements for publishing travel records.
DISCUSSION:
Council travel expense reports will be posted to the City's website by January 2025. In addition to
the publication of Council travel expense reports,the City Auditor's Office will provide an annual
report to summarize spending and review policy compliance of council member expenses based
on existing access to City records. Policy compliance would generally include (1) verification of
approval appropriateness, (2) evaluation of support documentation adequacy, and (3) assessment
of travel expense report submission timeliness. Completing this review and preparing and
publishing the corresponding report would likely take less than ten hours.
The City of Denton has earned a transparency star from the Texas Comptroller in each area
possible,including traditional finances, contracts and procurement,economic development,public
pensions, debt obligation, and open government and compliance. This designation recognizes that
the City provides clear financial information by posting financial documents,summaries,and other
relevant information.
Currently, the City provides public access to view purchases and other financial information
through the Open Data portal. Check,Automatic Clearing House (ACH), and Purchasing Card(P-
Card) transactions are published and updated quarterly for transactions the City processes.
Transactions can be filtered by date, payment or transaction amount, supplier or merchant name,
cardholder name, department, business unit, and account description. P-Card purchases made on
behalf of council members can be filtered to show travel expenses listed under the City Council
business unit, however, information for individual council members is not available.
CONCLUSION:
Council travel expense reports will be posted to the City's website by January 2025. Starting this
fiscal year, Council travel expense reports since Oct. 1, 2024 will be available. Additionally, The
City Auditor's Office will publish an annual report reviewing council member travel expenses to
ensure compliance.
December 13, 2024 Report No. 2025-015
STAFF CONTACT:
Cassey Ogden
Assistant City Manager
940-349-7195
REOUESTOR:
Council Member McGee
STAFF TIME TO COMPLETE REPORT:
Five hours
PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENTS:
City Manager's Office, Finance, City Auditor's Office