Fort Worth’s budget includes a tax rate reduction. Here’s what it means for you
Fort Worth is proposing a nearly 4 cent drop in the city’s property tax rate, but many homeowners will still pay more.
Those who saw a jump in their home’s appraisal are likely to see taxes go up despite the city’s cut, and all homeowners will see an increase in stormwater fees.
City manager David Cooke unveiled a 3.75 cent reduction in the city’s tax rate Tuesday as part of the proposed 2020 budget. The proposal drops the tax rate from 78.50 to 74.75. The owner of a home valued at $200,000 with a homestead exemption would pay $1,119.60 in city property taxes.
Cooke said the rate is essential to keep up with the growing population of Fort Worth. Increasing stormwater fees will help fund up to $70 million in stormwater work he expects to be done by 2025.
The 2020 budget will focus on the city’s growing list of maintenance required as a result of adding roughly 20,000 people a year.
“Think about the infrastructure needs of a city of 100,000 people. We add that every five years,” Cooke said.
Increased revenue will fund street repairs, sidewalk work and new street lights. Much of that will be done in low income and minority neighborhoods that may have been neglected over the years, he said.
Cash will be devoted to these efforts:
▪ $500,000 more per year for street lighting devoted primarily to minority neighborhoods and the city backlog of work.
▪ $750,000 more per year for sidewalks, or eight to 10 blocks worth of sidewalks per year.
▪ $1.1 million for mowing and alleyway maintenance.
▪ $500,000 more a year for fixing streets.
▪ $1.4 million a year for pavement markings.
▪ $1.5 million more for public transit programs including app development, a Medical District ZIPZONE and other initiatives.
A presentation next week will look at the city’s operating budget, including adding employees in some departments.
Cooke is also proposing a 6.5% increase in stormwater fees, which have been unchanged since 2012.
Governments and other institutions, like Tarrant County and the Fort Worth school district, also pay stormwater fees. Just under 40% of the stormwater budget, which totaled more than $40 million in 2019, comes from commercial property owners.
The cost to update the city’s drainage system could cost at least $1 billion, but fees leave just $10 million to $12 million a year available after the department makes debt payments related to $150 million bonds.
The fee increase will be used for a $60 million to $70 million bond program to tackle flash flooding over the next four to five years, Cooke said.
The priority will be spots in the road where dangerous fast moving flood waters can sweep cars away. In the past year, at least four people have died in flood waters.
The stormwater department staff has identified at least 100 locations where water frequently over tops the roadway. The bond program could address 40 of those critical locations while current funding could only fix 15. The bond program would also provide money to fix pipes and water channels, and possibility address some flood prone areas.
“I think stormwater is the most pressing capital need,” Cooke said.
The budget also includes $8 million to $10 million in bonds for the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. The city in July instituted a fee at the garden meant to help shore up the garden’s budget.
About a cent of the tax rate reduction comes from the expiration of a special tax district established in 2003 to fund infrastructure related to development in an area around Interstate 35 West and Highway 287.
Cooke and the City Council have said special tax districts, where growth in property tax revenue in the district is diverted to support development, should expire rather than be extended.
The city’s rate cut could have been greater, by about 1.2 cents, had the state Legislature not cut in to municipal revenue streams, Cooke said.
One bill bans cities from charging telecommunications companies a right-of-way fee, which cut about $4 million in expected revenue from Fort Worth. The city lost another $4 million after the state ended the practice of red light camera tickets.
The proposed tax rate also helps the city prepare for Senate Bill 2. The bill, one of state leaders’ top priorities this session, imposes a 3.5% cap on property tax revenues for cities and counties. Any more, and taxing units will have to receive voter approval. Previously, taxing entities were restricted to an 8% increase in property tax revenue from the previous year, and voters had to petition for an election to roll back the rate.
This will be the fourth consecutive year the city has reduced the tax rate, totaling more than a 11 cent reduction since 2017.
“We are the only major city in the state to do that,” Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said. “It will make us much more competitive and keep us where need to be as well as do the right thing for citizens.”
This story was originally published August 7, 2019 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Fort Worth’s budget includes a tax rate reduction. Here’s what it means for you."
