Lower property tax rate and a few more firefighters: Fort Worth passes its 2022 budget
The Fort Worth council on Tuesday passed a $1.8 billion budget for the next fiscal year funding the city government until Sept. 30, 2022.
It also approved a 1.5 cent property tax decrease per $100 of valuation, which District 4 Councilmember Cary Moon said was the largest of any major metropolitan area. The newly approved rate will be $0.735 per $100 of valuation.
Despite the rate decrease, Fort Worth homeowners might still see an increase in their property tax bills. The Star-Telegram reported in August the median home price has increased from $190,000 to $300,000 since 2016. Moon acknowledged the balancing act the city council has had to play to keep city property tax rates in line with increasing home values.
On Tuesday, he said the city’s property taxes account for only a portion of homeowners’ overall tax bill, and that decisions by other entities will also factor the overall bill.
Residents who wish to calculate their taxes can use an estimator on the Tarrant County website.
The council also approved an amendment to the budget to fund 10 more firefighter positions. These additional positions will be added to the November firefighter training class, increasing the number scheduled to graduate in July 2022 from 28 to 38.
Michael Glynn, president of Fort Worth’s firefighters’ union, praised the council for the increase, but said the city might need to add 20 times that many positions to address understaffing and delayed response times.
District 5 Councilmember Gyna Bivens reassured Glynn and the gathered audience that the council would not wait until the next budget cycle to add more firefighter positions if needed.
She pointed to a proposed staffing study that will look at proper fire department staffing, equipment, and analyze issues like delayed response times.
Bivens said if the council gets hard numbers saying there’s a need for more firefighters, it won’t hesitate to act.
District 6 Councilmember Jared Williams added he hopes to develop a youth training program that will offer Fort Worth teenagers a path to join the fire service directly out of high school. Williams said he hoped to create and fund the program in the 2023 budget cycle.
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