Fort Worth’s Audit & Finance Committee provided an update on the city’s budget at a June 2 meeting.
The briefing was a review of the monthly financial report for April 2026. The focus was on the general fund with special attention given to revenue. Cristi Lemon, assistant director of the FWLab, provided the update and noted that property tax has been adjusted downward an additional $4 million. She explained the downward adjustment is “value loss resulting from litigation and arbitration.”
Sales tax revenue improved with an uptick of $2 million, but while that offsets the loss in property tax revenue, the city continues to operate with a shortfall.
“We are seeing some loss in revenue, about $11.4 million we expect to receive in revenue below what was budgeted,” Lemon said.
City expenditures were reduced by $6.4 million over the past month. This was achieved by analysts working closely with city departments to identify discretionary cuts. The city’s ongoing hiring freeze was also implemented to slow spending.
“And as we continue to have separations and vacancies, we’re starting to see some results from that hiring freeze,” Lemon said.
Salary and benefits continue to remain over budget with the primary cause being police and fire overtime. Fleet costs for the fire department are also higher, contributing to the overage. The police department was able to cut expenses by $2.8 million, and the fire department cut about $850,000.
Three smaller departments were 1%-3% over budget: human resources, economic development and the municipal court. Lemon explained that smaller departments have a difficult time absorbing costs when there are unexpected expenses. As for the municipal court, the department has been using additional part-time and temporary judges.
“We’re still $3 million over budget, and we’ll keep working on it this next month. … With the discretionary spending cuts and the hiring freeze, we’re hopeful that we can bring that closer to budget,” Lemon said.
Audit & Finance Committee
Documenter: Patrick Banis
Date: June 2, 2026
Learn more about this meeting by clicking here. For the agenda, click here.
Patrick Banis is a member of the Fort Worth Report Documenters crew. If you believe anything in this account is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
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