Left to right: Thomas Thomas, Betty Butler, John Robertson, Ed DesPlas, Norma Van Landingham and Diana Wilder (not pictured: April Ellis)
Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — May 7, 2013
Newsbrief
(DALLAS) — Open, transparent transactions are the goal of the Dallas County Community College District’s office of business affairs. Those efforts recently were acknowledged by the office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts when DCCCD earned the state’s Gold Leadership Circle Award, which now is listed on the Texas Transparency website.
The designation, effective for a year, recognizes local government transparency, using 20 ratings criteria; Gold awardees must score at least 16 of those 20 points. Texas State Comptroller Susan McCombs recommends that all local governments implement financial transparency by posting three key financial documents online: an agency or district’s annual budget, annual financial report and check register.
The Comptroller’s Leadership Circle encourages and applauds local governments across Texas that have focused on giving taxpayers a transparent look at local expenditures by opening their books to the public; providing clear, consistent pictures of spending; and sharing information in a user-friendly format that lets taxpayers “drill down” easily for more information online.
“The Dallas County Community College District is supported by local tax dollars, student tuition and state funding. Transparency is easy — we run lean and efficiently. We earn clean audits, and we garner stellar credit ratings,” said Ed DesPlas, DCCCD’s executive vice chancellor for business affairs. “Our financial transparency Web page is an extension of our sound and conservative financial practices. Our Gold-level award in the Texas State Comptroller’s Leadership Circle is what our community deserves.”
DCCCD business affairs staff members, who are based at the District Service Center in Mesquite and were involved in the project, included Diana Wilder, Thomas Thomas, Betty Butler, John Robertson, Ed DesPlas and Norma Van Landingham. April Ellis, Web managing editor at DCCCD’s district office, assisted with putting the information online.
# # #