Tarrant County College overstated the decline in its taxable property values by nearly $36 billion before trustees approved a tax increase in early September.
The college announced Sept. 28 that its certified net taxable value fell from about $322.9 billion in 2025 to $319.1 billion in 2026 — a $3.8 billion drop, rather than the $39 billion previously reported. TCC said it had compared two different measures of taxable value.
The corrections do not change the property tax rate of 12 cents per $100 valuation that trustees approved Sept. 10, up from 11.228 cents last year. For a property with the same taxable value in both years, it adds $7.72 annually for every $100,000 in taxable value.
“We have reviewed the numbers, adjusted them and are sharing that information,” board President Jeannie Deakyne said in a statement.
The adopted rate is above the revised no-new-revenue rate of 11.3326 cents per $100, which would collect roughly the same tax revenue as the previous years. It remains below 12.3108 cents, the threshold above which voters would have to approve the rate.
Trustee Laura Forkner Pritchett, who cast the sole vote against the tax rate increase, said a constituent raised concerns about the published figures. They reviewed the property-value comparison and tax-rate calculation before she asked administrators to check the numbers.
“Taxpayers deserve information that is accurate, transparent and worthy of their trust,” Pritchett said in a statement.
TCC cited declining taxable property values, reduced state funding and frozen tuition and fees as budget financial pressures when trustees approved its $429.4 million operating budget in August.
TCC also corrected how much property value it excluded from its tax-rate calculations for tax increment financing zones. In those zones, a share of taxes generated by rising property values pays for development projects. The excluded values needed to reflect the percentage of its taxes on that growth contributed to each zone’s fund, according to the college.
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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