The city of Fort Worth has an even larger budget hole to dig itself out of after certified property values from the Tarrant Appraisal District came in significantly lower than previously expected.
A May 19 estimate projected the city needed to cut roughly $49.3 million from the budget to meet its expected revenue goals, however, new appraisal figures from TAD have increased that deficit to roughly $76.8 million, according to an Aug. 4 city council presentation.
The deficit is based on the assumption the city keeps its current tax rate of $0.67 per $100 of value the same, Fort Worth Lab director Christianne Simmons said speaking at the Aug. 4 council work session.
The city tried to be conservative with its revenue projections, but even those worst case scenarios turned out not to be conservative enough, City Manager Jay Chapa said speaking at the council work session.
After receiving the certified values for TAD on July 25, the city has had to scramble to find ways to save both by making cuts to expenses and raising its tax rate, Chapa said.
This would be the first time the city has increased its tax rate since 1995.
State law allows the city to raise its tax rate as high as 76.9732 cents per $100 of value without triggering an election.
The owner of a $300,000 house with a homestead exemption would pay $1,847.36 in city property taxes under that maximum rate.
Even the “no-new revenue” tax rate — which is the tax rate that would generate the same amount of revenue in 2027 from properties that were on the tax rolls in 2026 — would result in a small tax rate increase due to a drop in property values from the 2026 rolls, Chapa explained.
City management has asked departments to present budgets with 1% and 3% reductions from prior year spending.
Simmons noted that every 1 cent increase in the tax rate would result in roughly $11 million more in property tax revenue, however, Chapa was quick to assert the city is not considering that steep of an increase.
The city council is scheduled to get its first look at the proposed budget and tax rate at an Aug. 11 budget work session.
What happened to the property values?
A combination of property tax protests and TAD’s appraisal plan accounted for the bulk of the decrease in property values, according the city’s presentation.
The city’s April estimated property values were around $143 billion, however, that number dropped to roughly $130 billion after TAD released its certified appraisal figures at the end of July.
The city has seen a roughly 4% dip in appraised property values between April and July over the past decade, however, this year’s drop came in closer to 10%, according to the presentation.
The city’s appraised value increased by 0.89% from the previous year. To put that in perspective, the city’s property values grew by 5.95% in 2025 and 4.4% in 2024, according to the city presentation.
The Tarrant Appraisal District also made the switch in 2024 to appraising properties every two years instead of annually.
Chief Appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt explained that the plan was put in place assuming that property values in Tarrant County would stay relatively flat.
Fort Worth city council member Elizabeth Beck asked Bobbitt if the city’s property values have ever been flat.
Not in the last 10 years, Bobbitt responded.