Fort Worth voters agree police should have special sales tax funding until 2030
The Fort Worth Police Department will have access to an ever growing fund outside its normal budget for the next decade after a ballot proposal renewing the department’s special sales tax appeared on its way to an overwhelming victory Tuesday night.
Called the Crime Control and Prevention District, the half-cent sales tax has been devoted to police since 1995, and has ballooned from $26.6 million to more than $85 million budgeted for 2020. Altogether, the tax will provide Fort Worth police with an additional $1 billion through 2030. This revenue is in addition to what the police department receives through the city’s general fund, which this year amounted to more than $267 million.
Voters approvee the tax with 64.37% of the vote, according to unofficial results.
George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody in May put a renewed focus on policing, and a coalition of grassroots groups rallied around the sales tax as a means to defund the police. Critics labeled it a “police slush fund” and said the money would be better spent on community-based nonprofits or by improving transportation.
Proponents, including Mayor Price, who donated to a campaign fund in support of the tax, said it has kept crime low since the mid-1990s.
Manny Ramirez, president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, celebrated the victory, saying Fort Worth voters “defeated a radical campaign to defund the police.”
“This shows our men and women that the vast majority or Fort Worth residents have their back,” Ramirez said. “It’s very encouraging.”
Fort Worth is by far the largest city in Texas to devote sales tax to the police. Dallas, Austin and Houston use a full cent to fund transit agencies. San Antonio provides three quarters of a cent to transit programs and splits the rest between a K-12 initiative and an Edwards Aquifer protection and parks program.
Trinity Metro receives the other half of Fort Worth’s cent.
The city estimated the tax would bring in nearly $88 million 2020, but a decline in spending related to the coronavirus will likely result in less for the special fund.
A coalition of social justice-minded groups, including United Fort Worth, Fort Worth Futures and the Tarrant County Coalition For Community Oversight encouraged followers to reject the tax with a campaign centered on expanding the idea of public safety beyond policing. Social media posts focused on how the funding could be used to improve mental health services, access to health care and parks.
Regardless of the vote, organizer Pamela Young said the coalitions won. Voters in the past blindly accepted the police sales tax at face value, but this year the groups’ campaigning educated many about how the money is spent, she said.
“Our eyes are open, and we can make sure that changes are made moving forward,” she said.
Young said the groups would turn their attention toward influencing how the City Council spends the special tax.
Price, in a statement, said she understood concerns about policing spending and oversight. She said she would call on the City Council “to engage in a conversation about the governance structure and CCPD spending.” A spokeswoman for Price’s office did not respond to a question asking for specifics.
“This continues funding for critical community programs that reduce crime and foster positive community-police interactions,” Price said.
Fort Worth’s crime tax
Back in the 1990s, Fort Worth, like many other cities, faced rising crime, particularly violent crime associated with gang activity. The tax was meant to fund specialized patrols, community watch groups and organizations that work to deter crime. It has been credited with helping drop Fort Worth’s crime rate by 63%, though crime statistics have trended downward nationally since the 2000s.
The sales tax now funds nearly 300 positions, largely in the police department, including 97 neighborhood patrol officers, 77 school officers and 50 special response team members. Sixteen are non-police positions, those who work with graffiti abatement and late-night programs.
The largest portion of the special tax is devoted to equipment and vehicles for the police department — more than $32.5 million in 2020. That includes more than $10 million for the upkeep of high mileage vehicles and $3.6 million to cover jail costs. In 2017, more than $3.2 million was set aside to help purchase a police helicopter.
Nonprofits geared toward stopping crime, working with at-risk children or providing social services receive roughly 6%, or just over $5 million.
Following calls from activists and protesters, Police Chief Ed Kraus pledge to devote more funds to those nonprofits, but has not provided specifics.
In 2010, the council dissolved an independent board that over saw the special fund and took control of managing the district — a move critics have said stifled transparency.
The council last year approved asking voters to lock the tax in for a decade instead of five years. Councilwoman Ann Zadeh voted against the proposal, arguing that the city should devote more money to transportation.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 7:07 PM.
