\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe city of Fort Worth may see a budget shortfall of nearly $50 million during the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n
During a Fort Worth City Council work session meeting<\/a> on April 7, Brady Kirk, Fort Worth Lab finance assistant director, provided a long-term budget forecast to the council.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve known that fiscal year [2026-27] would be another somewhat tough year and that picture is always coming into focus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His presentation<\/a> unveiled rising costs and shrinking revenues. He mentioned economic conditions such as interest rates being near 25-year highs, three government shutdowns, Tarrant Appraisal District’s reappraisal plans and national and global uncertainties.<\/p>\n The context<\/strong><\/p>\n Kirk said the city\u2019s budget depends heavily on taxes, and the whims of the economy have an impact on those numbers.<\/p>\n The fiscal year 2025-26 budget, which runs from Oct. 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, was $3.09 billion, an increase of 10.77% compared to the previous budget, according to the city website<\/a>.<\/p>\n The approved tax rate for FY 2025-26 is $0.6700 per $100 valuation. Kirk said that breaks down to $0.1475 for debt service and $0.5225 for operation and maintenance, which funds the city\u2019s operations for most departments.<\/p>\n He said the city departments started working on the FY 2026-27 budget, which would be approved this fall, the first week of April.<\/p>\n Projections for the upcoming fiscal year increase 3%-4% growth in expenses. Based on revenues, made up of property tax, sales tax, other taxes and general revenue funds, comprise 87.4% of the FY 2025-26 adopted revenue budget.<\/p>\n That leaves roughly a 12.5% funding gap for FY 2026-27.<\/p>\n By the numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n Total revenue forecast for FY 2026-27 shows $1.13 billion in revenue and $1.18 billion in expenses, with an expected budget shortfall of $49.3 million.<\/p>\n In the following years, forecasts show budget shortfalls as well, ranging from $4.9 million to $8.7 million in odd years.<\/p>\n Kirk said that in part is due to changes with the Tarrant Appraisal District, which voted in 2024 to go to evaluations every other year, according to previous reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n He said the new plan shows either no growth or growth at a lower level than other years, calling it \u201cunpredictable.\u201d<\/p>\n Stay tuned<\/strong><\/p>\n Kirk said several dates will impact the budget projection.<\/p>\n What else?<\/strong><\/p>\n City Manager Jesus \u201cJay\u201d Chapa mentioned Fort Worth was not chosen as a base camp site for any of the qualifying FIFA World Cup teams.<\/p>\n TCU had applied to be a base camp, according to previous reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn’t figure in a FIFA bump [financially] because we were unsure what it would look like,\u201d Chapa said when discussing the budget.<\/p>\n He said that without Fort Worth being chosen, a number of the hotel rooms that were on hold at the request of FIFA are now available for booking, which could benefit visitors to the nine games.<\/p>\n However, Chapa said the World Cup will likely have less of an impact than earlier predictions. He said the North Central Texas Council of Governments<\/a> has revised the number of expected visitors from 2.5 million to 1.2 million.<\/p>\n\n