Mid City Times

Fort Worth residents will see the continuation of services and programs they have come to expect as the city grows, under a recommended Fiscal Year 2025 operating budget. Following months of preparation by city staff, City Manager David Cooke presented the Council with its first look at the budget on Tuesday. The recommended general fund budget stands at $1.062 billion, marking a 4.8% increase from the FY24 adopted budget of $1.013 billion.

The budget addresses infrastructure and public safety concerns, along with City Council’s goals for economic development and community investment.

City staff recommends adjusting the property tax rate to 67.73 cents per $100 assessed valuation, an increase from the current rate of 67.25 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The proposed tax rate is just below the No New Revenue rate required by state calculations through truth-in-taxation laws. A public hearing on the tax rate is scheduled for Sept. 17.

The general fund, primarily supported by property and sales taxes, covers police and fire services, public works, community services such as libraries and parks, and other city operations.

Fort Worth allocates part of the tax rate to maintenance and operations, pay-as-you-go (PayGo) or cash used to maintain city infrastructure, and debt service. Under the recommended rate, the PayGo portion will increase to 7.5 cents from 7 cents, generating an additional $9 million in revenue for repairing street issues like cracks and potholes.

Throughout community meetings and surveys over the year, residents identified street conditions as a top concern. This funding increase is designed to address underfunding in street maintenance due to growth and inflation. Maintaining streets increases their longevity and saves approximately $50 million in future reconstruction costs annually.

However, Fort Worth is experiencing slower property value growth than in previous years and a forecasted shortfall in sales tax for FY24.

“Fort Worth’s population could surpass the 1 million mark in 2025,” Cooke said. “Along with that growth comes increased demands on services and infrastructure. City staff is being particularly mindful in this budget cycle about how to achieve our goals and focusing on the foundations we’ve built.”

The recommended budget includes some cuts through eliminating vacant positions.

“It’s important that residents know we are being a good steward of their money,” Cooke said. “Improving and enhancing programs and services for future generations is an underlying budget goal. That was a little more difficult this time around because the city is also seeing cost increases, slowing revenues, and economic pressures.”

The overall FY25 budget amounts to $2.79 billion, up 7.4% from $2.6 billion in FY24. The budget recommends increasing water rates by 3.3%, wastewater rates by 2.3%, and stormwater rates by 5% starting January 2025.

Additionally, there is a proposed 12.5% increase in most Development Services department fees within the general fund budget which would generate $3.2 million to hire additional employees needed for service improvements.

Also included in the overall budget is $133.6 million allocated for use by the Crime Control and Prevention District (CCPD), representing a 2.2% increase from last year; CCPD is funded with half-cent of special use tax.

On average taxable home value of $297,000 with homestead exemption homeowners can expect to pay about $1,609 on their city's portion of their tax bill depending on home value assessments exemptions applied.

In May Fort Worth's City Council approved assuming governance operations MedStar emergency medical services provider nearly four decades special revenue fund established accordingly

The City Council will review open workshops Aug-27 Sept-5-6 before final vote Sept-17 new fiscal year starts Oct-1

Community meetings held each council district starting Aug-21 running through Sept-9

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