The average Arlington resident’s property tax bill may slightly decrease soon, though their monthly water bill may go up.
Council members unanimously gave their initial approval to the fiscal year 2026-27 budget Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the city’s property tax rate saw opposition from two council members who said a slight increase would be worthwhile for additional services.
Arlington City Council will finalize the budget and tax rate on Sept. 15.
City Manager Trey Yelverton said he was proud of the work city staff had done to allow the council to avoid increasing the tax rate like in Fort Worth and Keller.
“The work that we did last year smoothed the process during the current year we are in, as well as the one we are moving to,” Yelverton said.
The budget will see the city finish with a roughly $3 million surplus. It also includes a slight general fund shortfall, which is balanced by other city funds.
The budget maintains the tax rate at 62.98 cents per $100 of assessed property value. During last year’s budget season, officials said a roughly 3-cent tax increase was needed to close a budget shortfall and set the city up for the future.
Yelverton applauded the 3-cent raise in Arlington’s property tax rate last year for allowing the city to slowly adjust to the property value freeze from the Tarrant Appraisal District, which appraisal board members voted to continue.
“We can always operate when we know the rules, but when someone changes the rules on you in the middle of a process without any notice, without any period of adjustment, it causes what we dealt with last year,” Yelverton said. “Now that we know the rules, we’ve adjusted, and we have a different plan.”
The city will lose property tax revenue because of declining property values. Yelverton previously told council members that the taxable value of homes in the city dropped by 1.23%, the second-largest drop in value this century for Arlington.
Property value protests were a large factor in the drop, officials said. Protests led to a roughly $5 billion property value decrease, Yelverton said.
To offset that revenue loss, officials and council members discussed raising the property tax to the no-new-revenue rate. That rate means the city would bring in the same amount of revenue as last year. The no-new-revenue rate would have increased the average homeowner’s annual tax bill by roughly $16.
However, the proposal drew opposition from a majority of council members who said property owners need stability.
The Arlington portion of the average property owner’s tax bill is roughly $1,500.
The budget cut some proposed projects:
A 24/7 expansion of the city’s Real Time Crime Center
Replacements of police officer gas masks
Replacements of fire bunker gear
Expanded homelessness services
Additional city employee compensation increases
Additional street maintenance
Additional facility maintenance
Additional replacement vehicles
Additional funding for risk-self insurance or workers’ comp funds
However, that doesn’t mean they will go unfunded. Yelverton said the projects were identified as priority items, and the city will look for other ways to fund them, such as shifting funds if needed.
“It’s not funded, but it doesn’t mean we can’t work on trying to make it happen,” Yelverton told council members during an afternoon work session. “It may mean something else we’ve been doing becomes a lesser priority because we’ll borrow some resources to make that happen.”
New council members Brittney Garcia-Dumas and Jason Shelton said the no-new-revenue rate was worth the increase in services. Both pointed to the fact that the average homeowner would have still seen an overall decrease in their city tax bill.
Garcia-Dumas said holding the tax rate steady delays improvements that are necessary for the city’s future, like street maintenance, equipment for the police and fire departments and enhanced homelessness services.
“Staying at the proposed tax rate just pushes issues further down the line, and they are going to be more expensive,” Garcia-Dumas said after the vote. “It’s better to do now.”
Shelton said the $16 difference was worth the cumulative change it could bring.
“We’d have $2.2 million that we could put to some major programs that enhance the quality of life for our citizens,” Shelton said.
However, residents will see a rise in their water and sewer rates.
Currently, the average resident pays roughly $80 per month. Next year, the average residential user will pay $85 per month, or roughly $60 more per year.
During the afternoon session when the council discussed the budget, council member Mauricio Galante said the increase in price was partially due to higher water prices. The city buys its water supply from the Tarrant Regional Water District, then sells it to users.
“When we purchase the product for a higher price, unfortunately it is a tough decision, but we have to pass the cost forward,” Galante said.
Despite the increase, the city’s water rate is lower than some nearby cities.
Chris Moss is a reporter for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@arlingtonreport.org.
At the Arlington 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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