Before Tarrant County College trustees voted to approve tax rate increases on Sept. 10, trustee Laura Forkner Pritchett spent six minutes arguing that TCC should find more savings before asking property owners to pay more.
Pritchett questioned administrative growth, tax increment financing commitments, what she described as nonacademic student health services and the college’s use of reserves. Then she acknowledged where she expected to stand once the votes were cast.
“I know I’m the lone vote on this issue, and I respect the perspective of my fellow trustees,” Pritchett said.
Minutes later, trustees approved 5-1, with Pritchett in opposition, to raise TCC’s property tax rate from 11.228 cents to 12 cents per $100 of taxable value. The additional revenue will support TCC’s $429.4 million fiscal 2027 operating budget.
Trustee Shannon Wood, whose 2021 campaign platform included lowering tax rates, was absent. She joined five other trustees Aug. 20 to advance the proposed rate increase, with Pritchett opposing.
The adopted rate exceeds TCC’s no-new-revenue rate of 11.211 cents, which would collect roughly the same amount brought in by tax collections in the previous year. It remains below the voter-approval rate of just over 12.5 cents — the highest TCC could adopt without an election.
On a property whose taxable value remains unchanged, the new rate adds $7.72 per $100,000 in value to the annual tax bill. Officials said that translates to an estimated $26.37 increase for a home with Tarrant County’s average taxable value of $341,599. Individual bills depend on exemptions and property values.
TCC’s 1% homestead exemption, adopted in 2023 with a $5,000 minimum, remains unchanged.
College leaders describe the increase as a response to pressure on TCC’s three major revenue sources: TCC will receive lower state funding despite outperforming last year’s academic expectations. The college district’s certified net taxable property values fell by roughly $39 billion. And tuition rates and mandatory fees are frozen through the 2026-27 academic year.
Pritchett acknowledged those pressures but argued they did not remove the board’s obligation to look deeper within the college. She framed her opposition as an effort to protect taxpayers and TCC’s academic mission by directing more resources toward classrooms, faculty and workforce programs.
“It is not up to this board to minimize what $1 means to another individual,” she said. “In an environment where working families are managing rising household costs across the board, every single dollar matters.”
Before the vote, trustee Gwendolyn Morrison said it “would be presumptive” to assume how trustees would vote prior to hearing the discussion. She called education an investment and asked her colleagues to approve the increase.
Trustee Veronica Chavez Law said she respected Pritchett’s reasoning but pointed out that Pritchett had missed two budget sessions where she could have questioned staff.
Trustee Teresa Ayala said the rate is necessary to sustain TCC’s education mission.
“For an organization to spend almost an entire year to prepare for a budget says a lot about how important this process is for us and how important it is that we are responsible fiduciaries,” Ayala said.
Only one speaker signed up to speak before the vote. Colleyville resident Sayeda Syed, a Tarrant Appraisal District board candidate, asked trustees to reject the increase. She said TCC will see increases in taxable value next year due to more properties being developed in Tarrant County.
“It will affect non-homestead residential properties. It will affect business community. It will affect the commercial properties,” Syed said.
Dang Le is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Fort Worth.
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