For the fourth year in a row, Tarrant County commissioners moved to lower the tax rate for JPS Health Network.<\/p>\n
A proposed rate of $0.159 per $100 of taxable value was approved 3-2 on Tuesday, with commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles Jr. voting against the decrease. The final vote to adopt the rate is expected to take place later this month.<\/p>\n
With the decrease, the average homeowner will save $17 per year on their tax bill compared to last year, said Matthew Jones, the county\u2019s deputy director of budget and risk management, at the Aug. 13 budget hearing in which the rate was discussed.<\/p>\n
Tarrant County\u2019s public hospital expects $462.7 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2027<\/a> with the proposed rate, down from the projected $478.1 in tax revenue for this fiscal year.<\/p>\n Simmons said at the Tuesday meeting that consistently approving rates below the no-new-revenue rate while the hospital district is near capacity \u201crisks starving\u201d the institution that serves populations who have no other option.<\/p>\n \u201cA lower tax rate is not responsible fiscal policy if it leaves our public hospital without needed resources to serve the people of this county,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Tax revenue for next fiscal year is expected to make up 24% of the public hospital district\u2019s overall revenue, down from a projected 26% this year and continuing a trend of decreases.<\/p>\n Commissioner Matt Krause, who voted in favor of the proposed rate, said during discussion on the item that although concern was raised last year about cutting the tax rate and how that could impact services, JPS is projected to end this year with more net revenue than for which it had budgeted.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of confidence that JPS is going to continue to operate in the black by doing what they need to do \u2014 providing for the people of Tarrant County and making sure that they\u2019re fiscally responsible, but also taking care of the needs of the county,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this tax rate does that.\u201d<\/p>\n JPS President and CEO Dr. Karen Duncan said at the Aug. 13 meeting that she could \u201csay with certainty that over the next fiscal year we have a strong budget that will be able to maintain operations and to continue the future needs of JPS, which includes the master facility plan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At that budget hearing, Simmons asked JPS Chief Financial Officer Kim Hodgkinson if next year\u2019s proposed tax rate would \u201cdelay the master facility plan at all,\u201d to which Hodgkinson replied that it would not.<\/p>\n In a statement to the Fort Worth Report, JPS spokesperson Dawn Fernald said the proposed rate of $0.159 supports the budget the hospital district has drafted for next fiscal year, including a higher anticipated number of patients and the master facility plan.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause patient demand, county growth, reimbursement, workforce costs and other financial conditions can change from year to year, future tax-rate recommendations will need to be evaluated each year as part of the budget process,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n A look back at fiscal year 2024<\/p>\n In 2023, JPS lowered its tax rate<\/a> for its fiscal year 2024 budget, the first time it had done so in five years. The hospital district board had voted to keep the rate the same as the year prior but was overridden by the O\u2019Hare-led commissioners court.<\/p>\n At an Aug. 15, 2023, meeting<\/a>, O\u2019Hare said that if the rate was maintained, homeowners\u2019 property taxes from JPS would have increased by 80% since 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n He added that he had spoken with JPS board members and Duncan about the impact of a tax rate below the no-new-revenue rate, and that the master facility plan would not be jeopardized and the quality of patient care would not be affected.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can be pro JPS, and pro indigent care and pro Level One trauma center, and also be fiscally responsible and say, \u2018We\u2019re going to take the rate down,\u2019\u201d O\u2019Hare said in 2023.<\/p>\n At an Aug. 24 JPS board of managers meeting<\/a>, then-CFO Sharon Clark said the lower tax rate \u201cwill not have an enormous impact, but JPS will have to make a few changes moving forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She added that \u201cif the court doesn\u2019t lower the tax moving forward, I think our master facility plan will be good.\u201d<\/p>\n Fiscal year 2025<\/p>\n In 2024, commissioners proposed a rate of $0.1875 at an Aug. 20 meeting<\/a>. Duncan presented a proposed fiscal year 2025 budget to commissioners Sept. 4<\/a> based on that rate.<\/p>\n But at the Sept. 17 meeting<\/a>, commissioners adopted a rate of $0.1825, which O\u2019Hare estimated at the time would be a $14 million decrease in revenue. They also approved JPS\u2019s fiscal year 2025 budget, which was based on the original rate of $0.1875.<\/p>\n The county hospital district then adjusted its budget to account for the new tax rate. Duncan told the Report then she was not aware the rate would be lowered before the meeting.<\/p>\n Fiscal year 2026<\/p>\n In August 2025, JPS board members approved a budget<\/a> based on a tax rate of $0.17417, an amount below the no-new-revenue rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Sept. 3 commissioners court meeting, O\u2019Hare made a motion to vote to adopt a rate ceiling of $0.165, citing historical net incomes that exceeded what was budgeted.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see that they are underbudgeting the profit by literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars,\u201d O\u2019Hare said.<\/p>\n Commissioner Manny Ramirez noted that the profit margins are small compared to JPS\u2019s overall billion-dollar budget and said excess funds are put away for the future. Simmons said commissioners were \u201cpenalizing good leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposed rate passed with a 3-2 vote, with Simmons and Miles voting against it.<\/p>\n The final vote to adopt the rate was scheduled for Sept. 16 but was delayed after Simmons and Miles broke quorum. State law requires that four commissioners be present.<\/p>\n Commissioners later voted to adopt the $0.165 tax rate during a special called meeting Sept. 22. The rate passed with three commissioners in favor, Miles against and Simmons absent.<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n