Case Study: City of McKinney achieves 5-Star Texas Transparency Stars rating with OpenGov

How McKinney was the first municipality to earn a 5-Star Texas Transparency Stars rating with OpenGov

McKinney, Texas — a fast‑growing city of about 155,000 with a $275 million annual budget — set a council goal to strengthen fiscal health and financial transparency. City staff aimed to be the first in Texas to earn all five State Comptroller “Transparency Stars,” which required publishing searchable, easy‑to‑analyze financial data and engaging residents in the budget process.

To meet that challenge McKinney deployed the OpenGov Smart Government Cloud to publish interactive monthly financials, searchable check registers and payroll, debt‑obligation schedules, pension histories, capital maps and online engagement tools (digital workshops and Q&A). The result: McKinney became the first Texas municipality to earn all five Transparency Stars (Traditional Finances, Contracts & Procurement, Economic Development, Public Pensions, Debt Obligations), while boosting citizen engagement and strengthening internal analysis and reporting.

City of McKinney

Trevor Minyard

Senior Financial Analyst