Fort Worth city leaders implemented a hiring freeze — including in some core services areas — as they address a projected budget shortfall this year as well as “constrained revenues” expected next year.
Police, fire and emergency medical services are exempt from the freeze as are certain other positions. Exemptions include seasonal and summer hiring, positions paid for by sources outside the general and internal services funds, and jobs posted before March 12, City Manager Jay Chapa wrote in a memorandum to department heads Thursday.
“This hiring freeze will not exempt hard-to-fill positions,” Chapa wrote. “Please manage workload with existing staff as best you can.”
The precautionary move is meant to avoid more drastic measures, council member Carlos Flores, the mayor pro tem, said in an interview.
“In general, a hiring freeze is a much better and prudent step than raising taxes or a reduction in city services,” Flores said. “And (in) a more drastic step, you might have to consider layoffs. We don’t want to find ourselves in that position.”
Budget projections for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, show expenses outpacing revenues, Chapa explained in the memo. “We are also planning for constrained revenues in fiscal year ’27.”
Chapa wasn’t more specific in the memo. He did not return a text message from the Fort Worth Report seeking comment.
Projections show the city is exceeding its $1.1 billion general fund budget — the one that pays for day-to-day services such as public safety, libraries, parks, code enforcement and economic development — by about $9.7 million as of the end of January, according to figures presented to the City Council on March 3.
Revenue is projected to be $3.8 million below what was expected this fiscal year.
City officials have said sales tax receipts are lower than projected. Those taxes were to make up 23.9% of the general fund’s revenue this year.
Meanwhile, the internal service funds that support internal operations — such as information technology, fleet services and employee health care — are seeing higher costs.
Employee health care costs are higher than budgeted for the year and projected to be more expensive in the future, city staffers have said in presentations to the council members this month.
The general and internal services funds make up 45% of Fort Worth’s $3.09 billion budget.
City Council member Michael Crain said Friday he would hold open his vacant district director’s job, even though the role isn’t affected by the hiring freeze.
“It’s the right thing to not fill that position,” he said. “If we’re asking city departments to take a hard look at staffing choices, we — as council — should be doing that as well.”
Chapa advised department heads to “limit discretionary spending until further notice,” but he referred to that limitation as a “freeze” later in the four-paragraph memo.
“The freeze on recruitment and discretionary spending will continue until further notice,” Chapa wrote. “This situation will be monitored monthly as expenditure projections are updated.”
Department leaders have “no official waiver process” for openings affected by the freeze, Chapa wrote, instructing them to consult their assistant city managers on any openings deemed essential.
Christianne Simmons, chief transformation officer in the FWLab city budget office, told the Report “we do not have a specific savings target” with the freeze.
“This is a strategy to work toward aligning spending with budget,” she said.
She said the lack of waiver process is due to needing to close a large budget gap.
Jobs posted before March 12 that aren’t subject to the hiring freeze include that of chief planning officer, she said.
As for next year, Simmons said staff and council will “dive deeper into fiscal year 2027 revenues in the April budget work session, but we are still projecting property tax revenue impacts due to (the Tarrant Appraisal District’s) adopted reappraisal plan,” under which TAD reappraises residential property every two years, not annually.
The city implemented a hiring freeze last summer as officials responded to revenue shortfalls during fiscal 2025, which closed at the end of September.
At that time, Chapa also instructed city departments to cut back discretionary spending. Those efforts helped offset a nearly $14 million shortfall largely due to smaller-than-expected property tax and sales tax revenue.
The city ultimately ended last fiscal year with a $2.1 million shortfall, which it covered with its $300 million in reserve funds.
Scott Nishimura is a senior editor and Drew Shaw is a reporter for the government accountability team at the Fort Worth Report. Reach them at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.orgor drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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