Fort Worth City Council members wrestled over several proposed budget cuts, ranging from the elimination of a pet adoption clinic in the Alliance corridor to reductions in alleyway mowing and parks and library staff.
Council member Deborah Peoples asked City Manager Jay Chapa to calculate how much more of a property tax increase he would need to put some of his proposed cuts back in the 2027 budget, which has a $94 million shortfall. The city staff is proposing to close that gap with a property tax rate increase, vacant job eliminations and freezes, and numerous other cuts.
“We need to look at what it actually costs and then be willing to have honest conversations with (constituents) about what it costs,” Peoples, whose southeast Fort Worth district includes Stop Six, said during a Tuesday council budget workshop. “I think many of them want these services.”
Fort Worth considering slate of fee changes
The Fort Worth city staff previewed a slew of proposed fee changes across its various funds, including the general fund, for 2027:
Overall, the staff is proposing changes to 939 fees, including:
- 789 increases
- 59 decreases
- 33 eliminations
- 27 new ones
The typical Fort Worth household would see an $85.07 annual increase in fees to $1,371.60, the city said.
The proposed fee increases include a 6.6% average increase in water, wastewater, stormwater, solid waste and environmental fees, the city said.
— Scott Nishimura
Chapa presented his proposed budget last week. Several council members had questioned the city staff’s proposed closing of the Alliance PetSmart Charities Adoption Center, which the city runs in a longstanding partnership partially funded by grants.
The closure would save the city $403,000 in 2027 but likely lower the shelter’s near-90% “live release rate” — the percentage of animals who leave the shelter alive, through adoption, rescue or return to their owners. That closure could also hurt foster participation, volunteer engagement and adoption levels, the staff said. PetSmart also provides the city with grants for microchips and vaccinations, and the center’s closure could damage that relationship, the staff said.
“I don’t think this is somewhere we can just cut,” Mayor Mattie Parker said during the budget workshop. “I think this is something we need to put back in the budget. … It’s insurmountable to try to come back from that years later. It would cost us millions.”
In reviewing the PetSmart Alliance partnership in response to council members’ questions, staff said the center generated 4,627 animal adoptions for fiscal 2022-25 and 1,277 thus far for fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30. The center has accounted for between 11.9% and 13.25% of Fort Worth Animal Care & Control’s adoptions during that time, the city said.
The center has a “live release rate” of 88.5%, the staff said. Animal Care & Control’s live release rate is 80.9%.
A 90% live release rate “is the standard for a no-kill shelter,” Brian Daugherty, Fort Worth’s code compliance director, told council members.
Chapa proposed a $1.1 billion general fund budget with a 3.2-cent raise in the city property tax rate and the cost savings that close the budget shortfall for 2027.
The tax increase would increase the property tax rate to 70.2 cents per $100 of value appraised for tax purposes. If approved by the city council in September, the new rate would generate extra cash for city services. However, the average homeowner would see their 2027 city tax bill decrease $21.34 to $1,630.48, because the average value of a home in Fort Worth decreased to $232,000 from $246,000 under new appraisals.
Chapa told council members he would bring the adjusted projections back to them at Friday’s scheduled budget workshop.
Several council members raised questions about whether proposed eliminations of vacant positions and freezes of other openings will materially affect city services.
Chapa’s recommended budget includes deleting 35 vacant positions, saving $3.2 million; freezing 29 vacant positions for 2027’s first six months, saving $1.3 million; and freezing 92 vacant positions for all of 2027, saving $4.9 million.
Peoples and council members Elizabeth Beck and Chris Nettles focused on proposed cuts to parks and libraries.
Forty five of the job openings proposed to be frozen for all of 2027 are in parks. Additionally, the department proposes to eliminate 10 open part-time positions that it said were hard to fill because they were budgeted for only seven hours per week.
“I am incredibly concerned about our parks and recreation department, because it does seem like the lion’s share of these positions are coming from them,” Beck said, asking the department director, Dave Lewis, if the cuts would affect customer services.
Lewis said it was possible the department could absorb the cuts, but he needed more time to study the question.
The library staff is proposed to see 18 vacant positions frozen for 2027 and one opening eliminated.
Peoples said she wanted reassurance the proposed budget cuts don’t affect park maintenance.
“Many of our residents don’t come to city hall,” she said. “They go to the parks or libraries, and their view of the city is based on how well we maintain those.”
Peoples, Beck and council members Mia Hall and Nettles, whose older urban districts include neighborhoods with alleys, raised questions about the staff’s plan to cut mowing cycles for 2,300 unimproved alleys citywide to two times per year, down from four. Each mowing cycle costs $324,000.
Peoples said cutting mowing in her district “would be a nonstarter.”
“That’s a key issue in my district,” she said. “I get more complaints from residents about alleys. I think this impacts a lot of our inner-city areas.”
Beck proposed a compromise: “I think the pragmatic approach here is maybe reducing by one mowing cycle a year.”
The city this year expanded the service to four cycles in all unimproved alleys, up from a more limited service.
“It’s a relatively new service,” Beck said. “I’d like to see a compromise here. Three mowing cycles instead of four. Maybe not in the winter.”
Also, District 7’s Macy Hill asked council members to forgo their conference budgets for 2027. The proposed budget includes a total $140,000 in conference travel for the 10 council offices.
“I’d like to challenge us just to think about that,” Hill said, offering to give up her budget and let Chapa “reallocate that as you see fit.”
The Fort Worth Report has recently examined council travel expenses, finding Fort Worth City Council members spent more than $167,000 on taxpayer-funded travel in less than two years.
Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local government accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.
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