Fort Worth council faces final vote on FY2027 budget and possible 70.565-cent tax rate

Fort Worth City Council is scheduled to make its final decision Tuesday, September 15, on the city’s FY2027 budget and municipal property-tax rate. City Manager Jay Chapa’s recommended rate is 70.2 cents per $100 of assessed value, up from the current 67 cents, but later council discussions considered restoring services and increasing employee raises, which could move the rate to 70.565 cents.

The decision will determine how Fort Worth addresses a projected $94 million shortfall while funding public safety, employee compensation and basic city services. Neither the 70.2-cent recommendation nor the 70.565-cent restoration scenario is final until the council adopts the budget and tax rate.

What the proposed budget would do

Chapa’s recommended budget includes a general fund of about $1.1 billion. The plan uses higher property-tax revenue, fee changes, spending reductions and transfers among city funds to balance the budget.

The recommended 70.2-cent rate would generate more than $18 million in additional property-tax revenue. City officials and local reporting said the average Fort Worth homeowner could still see a lower municipal tax bill because the projected average appraised home value declined from about $246,000 to roughly $232,000.

One reported projection put the average city tax bill under the recommended rate at $1,630.48, a decrease from the current-year amount. A later restoration scenario put the average city tax bill at $1,643.62, or $8.20 below the current-year figure. Those are estimates based on average values, not guarantees for individual properties.

Fort Worth’s municipal rate is only one part of a homeowner’s total property-tax bill. County, school district and other taxing entities also levy taxes, and an individual bill depends on the property’s assessed value, exemptions and the rates adopted by all applicable taxing units.

Services, workers and proposed reductions

The recommended budget emphasizes public safety. It includes a 6% police raise, funding for 77 police cadets, a proposed 3% raise for general-fund employees next spring and a firefighter pay placeholder tied to ongoing contract negotiations. The reported 8.5% firefighter figure is not an adopted raise.

The official city budget response lists 35 vacant general-fund positions for deletion, 29 vacant positions frozen for the first six months of the fiscal year and 92 frozen for the full fiscal year. The document says the freezes and eliminations could mean longer waits for some services, including code compliance, library customer service, park and recreation programs, animal-shelter veterinary services and transportation-related repairs.

Other proposed reductions include less mowing on public property, a 25% reduction for the Mobile Toolshed program, elimination of the volunteer Code Ranger program and removal of the Fire Department’s HOPE Fire Response Unit from the recommended budget.

In a city budget response, staff said the HOPE unit provides supplies, camp checks and limited medical assistance to unhoused residents. The response said related work could be absorbed by the Mobile Integrated Health team, while returning firefighters to regular operations could reduce backfill overtime costs.

Council considers restorations

Council members have discussed restoring proposed reductions affecting parks, libraries, code compliance, mowing and the PetSmart Alliance-area pet adoption center. The city’s restoration analysis listed options totaling up to about $4.09 million.

That restoration scenario was reported as requiring a tax rate of 70.565 cents per $100 of appraised value, above the initial 70.2-cent recommendation. The scenario also projected an average municipal tax bill of $1,643.62, still below the current-year average because of lower projected home values.

The 70.565-cent figure is a council discussion scenario, not the final rate. The council could approve the recommended 70.2-cent rate, adopt a higher rate with restorations or make additional changes before the September 15 vote.

What residents should watch Sept. 15

The final action will show which service reductions remain, whether restorations are funded, what fees change and what compensation provisions are included in the adopted budget. Residents can review the city’s FY2027 budget documents and follow the council’s September 15 meeting information through the City of Fort Worth’s official budget and council channels.

Sources

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