{"id":260945,"date":"2025-09-28T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T09:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/260945\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T09:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T09:30:32","slug":"fort-worth-councils-new-budget-includes-decreased-tax-rate-increased-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/260945\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth council\u2019s new budget includes decreased tax rate, increased fees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fortworthtexas.gov\/government\/elected-officials\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fort Worth City Council<\/a> adopted the fiscal year 2025-26 budget Sept. 16. While the <strong>$3.09 billion<\/strong> budget is a 10.77% increase from last year\u2019s budget, the council was able to approve a property tax rate reduction for FY 2025-26.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The details<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 10.77% increase equates to approximately $300 million in additional funds, which will be used to bolster current services as well as provide additional services to Fort Worth\u2019s growing population. According to a city news release, the city\u2019s population grew to exceed 1 million this past year.<\/p>\n<p>The news release states the budget reflects funding priorities within the council\u2019s five strategic priorities. They include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Economic development:<\/strong> launching a small business development program and upgrading the Will Rogers Memorial Center sports complex<\/li>\n<li><strong>Community investment:<\/strong> expanding the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fortworthtexas.gov\/departments\/code-compliance\/enforcement\/fort-worth-mobile-tool-shed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mobile Tool Shed<\/a> program and adding resources to animal shelters<\/li>\n<li><strong>Community safety:<\/strong> adding police officers, providing funding for the <a href=\"https:\/\/communityimpact.com\/dallas-fort-worth\/keller-roanoke-northeast-fort-worth\/health-care\/2024\/07\/03\/fort-worth-changes-ems-delivery-model\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">city\u2019s new EMS service<\/a> and launching a new emergency management and communications department<\/li>\n<li><strong>Infrastructure:<\/strong> prioritizing street maintenance and water facility projects<\/li>\n<li><strong>Responsible growth:<\/strong> updating water, stormwater and solid waste fees<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A closer look<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During the Sept. 16 meeting, council members also approved a property tax rate for FY 2025-26 of <strong>$0.67 per $100 of valuation<\/strong>, which reflects a reduction from the current tax rate of $0.6725. Out of the $0.67, $0.5225 will be allocated to operations and maintenance and $0.1475 will be allocated to debt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the eighth year out of the past 10 years that the City Council has voted to lower the tax rate,\u201d District 2 City Council member Carlos Flores said.<\/p>\n<p>He added the new rate will equate to about $20 less in annual property taxes for the average Fort Worth homeowner.<\/p>\n<p>Council members additionally approved a 5% increase to the FY 2025-26 stormwater utility fee at the Sept. 16 council meeting. The average homeowner, who typically pays Tier 2 rates, will see their monthly rate increase from $6.94 to $7.29, reflecting an adjustment of $0.35. Rates for other residential tiers will be updated in accordance with a home\u2019s square footage, while commercial and industrial property rates will be adjusted based on impervious surface area.<\/p>\n<p>According to the news release, the increase, which will generate $2.4 million, is part of the FY 2025-26 operating budget and five-year Capital Improvement Program. These funds will be used for numerous initiatives including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Restoration projects<\/li>\n<li>Replacing aging equipment<\/li>\n<li>Minimizing flooding and property damage<\/li>\n<li>Protecting infrastructure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The new fiscal year starts Oct. 1, according to the news release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Worth City Council adopted the fiscal year 2025-26 budget Sept. 16. While the $3.09 billion budget is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":260946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,42631,7371,12612,136656,136655,7372,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-260945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city-of-fort-worth","10":"tag-fort-worth","11":"tag-fort-worth-city-council","12":"tag-fort-worth-fy-2025-26-budget","13":"tag-fort-worth-fy-2025-26-tax-rate","14":"tag-fortworth","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115281226935600273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}