Slightly lower property tax bills part of Fort Worth's $3.33B budget for 2027, leaders say

Fort Worth's City Council unanimously approved a budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which the city says aims to accommodate a growing population and a deteriorating property tax landscape, both locally and statewide.

On Tuesday, the city council approved a $3.33 billion budget, which the city says is an increase of over $241 million from the adopted budget for the 2026 fiscal year. Some programs originally slated for reduction in the coming fiscal year will be restored, including a PetSmart satellite adoption center in the Alliance area. The city also said a small number of employee positions are being restored in what it calls an effort to avoid service impacts, and employee Pay for Performance increases ranging from 4-4.5% will be paid in April 2027. The cost to restore those services and positions was $4.09 million.

Property taxes will go up under the new budget to $0.70565 per $100 of valuation, which the city notes is an increase of 3.565 cents over the previous rate. However, a statement from the city says that even with the higher tax rate, the tax bill for the average property in Fort Worth will decrease by about $8.19 because the average residential property value decreased by about $13,616.

The city said the budget focuses on investing in critical services, and that the average Fort Worth resident will pay about $7 more per month in city usage fees in the coming year. Those increased resident charges include adjustments to the stormwater fee, water and wastewater charges, solid waste charges, and the environmental fee.

Why does the city say the property tax landscape is deteriorating?

The city's budget statement claims that Fort Worth's growth isn't translating into higher property values and property tax revenues. It says this is largely due to a new reappraisal plan implemented by the Tarrant Appraisal District, which the city says has not reappraised residential property since 2024.

Additionally, the city said property tax protest volume is increasing each year, and that the potential for further changes at the state level creates uncertainty for budget forecasting.

Why is the budget so high?

Fort Worth city leaders have previously said the city faces a hefty shortfall. In August, City Manager Jay Chapa proposed a nearly $1.16 billion general fund budget to overcome a $94 million shortfall. He said at the time that, even though Fort Worth is the fastest-growing large city in the U.S., residential property valuations haven't risen as expected.

"It's really tied to the Tarrant Appraisal District not doing annual appraisals," he said. "So, they went two years without doing appraisals, while they went ahead and accepted protests, and that resulted in a loss of values that basically left our overall valuations even while costs have all been going up by three, four, five percent."  

What about Dallas?

In Dallas, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert proposed a general fund next year that's just over $2 billion, up more than $80 million from this year's spending plan. Most of that increase is for both the Dallas Police Department and Fire Rescue. Tolbert's proposal calls for eliminating 296 positions in all.

Of those, 108 employees will be laid off. The rest of the positions are vacant. The city has proposed lowering the property tax rate by ten cents to 69.78 cents per $100 valuation. Funding for arts and libraries are among those potentially on the chopping block. 

 "You will see fewer services because of the hour reductions, and really, it's that when hours are reduced, access is reduced, opportunity is reduced, so it just snowballs," said Denise McGovern, the Executive Director of Friends of the Dallas Library.

In an interview, Chris Heinbaugh, an arts advocate, said, "I was encouraged the arts cuts were very focused and strategic, so that it would keep more funding continue to come to the arts, but it still took a hit. So, it's always sad to see it back up like that. It's a tough year, and everyone is trying to adjust to that."