A state takeover of downtown Fort Worth? Dallas area lawmaker’s bill raises questions
A bill making its way through the state Legislature could change the way downtown Fort Worth is managed.
House Bill 4078 from Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, dictates the way special taxing districts that pay for added amenities downtown would be governed. These districts are often called public improvement districts, or PIDs for short.
Fort Worth already has a special taxing district, which is managed by the nonprofit Downtown Fort Worth Inc. Leach’s bill spells out exactly what those organizations like Downtown Fort Worth Inc. should be focused on as well as the makeup of their boards of directors.
Under the legislation, cities between 900,000 and 2 million must have a special taxing district. Fort Worth is good there.
These districts would have to be managed by a nonprofit, which again Fort Worth already has.
The biggest change would be how the law dictates the makeup of the nonprofit’s board of directors.
The board would have to be seven members with one appointed by the city, one appointed by the county, one appointed by the governor, one appointed by the lieutenant governor, one appointed by the speaker of the Texas House, and two elected by the 10 largest downtown property owners.
The law also mandates the special taxing district’s priorities with a focus on eliminating crime, eliminating vagrancy and improving cleanliness. The state would also kick in some funding, but that money could only be used to eliminate crime and vagrancy, according to the bill text.
Downtown Fort Worth Inc. already does some of this work, connecting homeless people to services with its ambassador program. The bill does not detail what eliminating vagrancy would entail.
The population range leaves out Houston — Texas’ largest city with a population of roughly $2.3 million.
Leach did not respond to three emails from the Star-Telegram requesting comment.
The proposed legislation strips property owners of their right to manage the budgets and priorities of special taxing districts they created, said Fort Worth City Councilmember Elizabeth Beck, whose district includes downtown.
Beck noted the downtown Fort Worth taxing district was voluntarily created by downtown property owners with the understanding they would be able to have a say in how their tax dollars get spent. She called the bill a state-imposed tax putting Austin in control of local tax dollars and stripping private property owners of their rights.
“Decisions about our downtown should be made by those who live and invest here—not by politicians in Austin,” she said.
Downtown Fort Worth Inc.’s president Andy Taft echoed Beck’s comments about the legislation stripping property owner protections.
“The mere idea that the legislature would consider seizing PIDs and converting them into a permanent funding tool, controlled in large part by the state, is a deal retrade unworthy of the Texas legislature and one that undermines taxpayer confidence that the state is protecting them,” Taft said.
In a statement, Downtown Fort Worth Inc.’s board said it appreciated the focus on dedicating more resources to addressing homelessness, but objected to what it called “the state capture and upending” of successful special taxing districts.
The board voted unanimously at its March 20 meeting to oppose the legislation along with a nearly identical companion bill filed in the state Senate.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram President Steve Coffman, who sits on Downtown Fort Worth Inc.’s board, abstained from the vote in anticipation that the newspaper might cover the statement.
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM.
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