Fort Worth council approves bigger 2016 budget but no tax hike
The City Council approved a $1.6 billion fiscal 2016 budget Tuesday, making some tweaks since city staff began laying out its proposed budget in mid-August and revising the annual appropriations ordinance to better account for city spending.
For the ninth consecutive year, the city’s property tax rate will stay at 85.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
The vote was 8-0, with Mayor Betsy Price absent. Councilwoman Kelly Allen Gray abstained from voting on the police department’s portion of the budget because her husband is on the force.
The fiscal 2016 budget is about a 4 percent increase from fiscal 2015, mostly reflecting moving the accounting of some special revenue funds, but also including the cultural & tourism debt service fund and the golf debt fund. While the debt funds don’t change the city’s overall budget, they do require transfers from associated operating funds.
The general fund portion of the budget, or the portion used to pay for city services and operations, is $610.9 million, up 3.6 percent from $589.4 million in fiscal 2015.
More money, $2.9 million, is slated to improve traffic and street management, and $16.2 million has been moved from the Crime Control and Prevention District budget to construct a facility for a sixth police division.
Although the budget has grown overall, city staff found nearly $2.3 million in savings through attrition and efficiencies.
Those included such things as eliminating the need for temporary employees in some departments, eliminating fees paid for consulting services in some departments and reducing bank fees the city pays. The city will also now outsource its land surveying and its print shop operations.
The city will keep the public computer labs at the city’s 14 community centers.
Eliminating the labs would save about $26,500 a year, according to city reports. But, Assistant City Manager Susan Alanis said, “We’re hitting the pause button. We’re taking another look.”
Each community center has six desktop computers and a printer. The computers are used heavily by children in the city’s after-school programs. But citing the need for some new equipment and network upgrades to improve computer speeds, which could cost as much as $350,000 at some point, the Park and Recreation Department suggested cutting funding to the labs.
The budget also accounts for some city employee pay raises.
The city’s fiscal year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
Sandra Baker: 817-390-7727, @SandraBakerFWST
City’s Women’s Commission is no more
Once known as the Commission on the Status of Women, a group that advised the Fort Worth City Council on women’s issues for more than three decades has come to an end.
The City Council Tuesday repealed the ordinance that established the group on Sept. 6, 1983. In 2003, the name was changed to the Commission for Women. At that time the commission was also increased to 19 members from nine to encourage involvement. Throughout the years, the commission recognized dozens of women for the community and professional contributions.
But in recent years, the commission has struggled to maintain an active membership and rarely reaches a quorum at its meetings, according to a city report. In March, the council agreed to reduce the board back to nine members, but it didn’t help.
Since March, the report says, “even after several meetings, the commission was still unable to establish priorities and roles that would allow the commission to exist as a viable resource for the City Council.”
Convention Center studies approved
The City Council approved paying $165,000 to Chicago-based Hunden Strategic Partners to handle soliciting for and finding a developer for a second convention center hotel. Last year, Hunden provided the City Council a market and feasibility study of the downtown hospitality market that called for a second convention center hotel and concluded that Fort Worth could use 2,000 more rooms.
The council also approved paying $142,608 with Fort Worth-based Elements of Architecture to provide a review and analysis of the existing condition of the Fort Worth Convention Center, including the overall condition of the structural, electrical, heating and air conditioning, as well as fixtures, finishes, material and accessibility.
Both contracts are being paid for through the city’s Culture and Tourism fund. Work could begin on the new hotel in 2017.
This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Fort Worth council approves bigger 2016 budget but no tax hike."