Gov. Greg Abbott touted Tarrant County as a model for lowering property taxes as Republican county commissioners applauded his plan to help local governments across Texas provide permanent tax relief.<\/p>\n
County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare and county commissioners Manny Ramirez and Matt Krause presented the governor with an honorary resolution they adopted earlier this month to support his tax reform plan during a news conference Thursday in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Abbott\u2019s platform of cutting taxes, a focus of his reelection campaign, would eliminate school property taxes, limit spending by local governments who collect property taxes, require two-thirds voter approval to allow property tax increases, and cap residential property appraisals at a 3% increase per year.<\/p>\n
The governor visited Tarrant County as commissioners prepare to adopt a roughly $834 million county budget and lower the property tax rate for the fourth consecutive<\/a> year. Earlier this month, commissioners discussed a decrease that would save about 17 cents<\/a> for the average homeowner per year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very achievable for jurisdictions across the entire state to do exactly what Tarrant County has done, and that is to cut property taxes while fully funding operations in a robust, growing city like Fort Worth and county like Tarrant County,\u201d Abbott told reporters on the 12th floor of The Fort Worth Club. Addressing commissioners, he added, \u201cI can’t thank you guys enough for the example that you’ve set to show other leaders across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare, who is seeking his second term in November, listed several accomplishments since taking office in 2023, including cutting the county tax rate by a cumulative 17%, the public hospital district tax rate by 29.2% and the county budget by $70 million.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve done it with good fiscal management, sound fiscal policy, and we’ve provided the property tax relief that Tarrant County residents and businesses needed,\u201d O\u2019Hare said.<\/p>\n The Democratic members of the commissioners court, Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles, were not present at the conference.<\/p>\n Simmons, who is running against O\u2019Hare for the county judge seat, said in a statement that although she welcomes a conversation about property taxes, the topic is \u201ctoo important to be reduced to a press conference.\u201d She raised questions about whether county revenue adequately covers recurring expenses, whether financial reserves are being used to pay for ongoing obligations and whether the county is deferring necessary infrastructure investments to reduce the tax rate.<\/p>\n \u201cCounty expenses do not disappear because politicians want to announce a lower tax rate,\u201d Simmons\u2019 statement read. \u201cMoving expenses between funds or pushing costs into future years does not eliminate them. It simply moves the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n At the conference, the three Republican commissioners maintained that county services have not suffered under recent tax reductions. Instead, they said, county funding has increased for essential services such as law enforcement and the district attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare said the county has given law enforcement \u201cthe largest pay raises they\u2019ve ever had\u201d for two years in a row, and non-law enforcement employees at the county were eligible for 3% merit-based salary increases all four years of his term.<\/p>\n The discussion of Abbott\u2019s plan comes as local governments across Tarrant County grapple with projected budget shortfalls, in part due to lower property tax revenue after the Tarrant Appraisal District board voted last year to continue<\/a> using a two-year reappraisal schedule and capping tax increases at 5% per cycle. Fort Worth officials are considering raising the tax rate to help close a projected $94 million shortfall<\/a> for 2027.<\/p>\n