FORT WORTH (1080 KRLD) - The Fort Worth City Council gets its first look at the proposed fiscal 2024 budget.
Thanks in large part to tremendous growth, Fort Worth's proposed general fund budget tops $1 billion for the first time.
"More for public safety, more for economic development, more for neighborhoods and community investment, more for maintaining and investing in infrastructure," said City Manager David Cooke during a special work session Tuesday morning, where he unveiled the budget.
Cooke noted that thanks to action from the City Council, certain people will get an additional homestead exemption.
"Increasing the homestead exemption for homeowners 65 and older and disabled," said Cooke, "moving that number to a $60,000 a year exemption."
And thanks to robust new home construction, Cooke is recommending a property tax rate decrease.
"That shows new private investment, new taxable investment in the city of Fort Worth," said Cooke. "That enables us to recommend a tax rate reduction of four cents."
The rate increase does not necessarily mean that homeowners' property tax bills will be going down; in many cases, their homes' appraised values will more than offset the reduced tax rate.
Cooke said a significant portion of the budget will be used for code enforcement.
"There's more positions for homeless camp cleanup," said Cooke. "We're implementing the boarding home ordinance, as well as short term rentals."
While the property tax rate would go down, other expenses like water and sewer could be going up.
"The water side would be a three and a half percent rate increase; the sewer side would be a 2.9% increase," Cooke said. "What's driving some of the rate increases is capital and inflationary costs that the water fund is experiencing."
The City Council will vote on a finalized budget next month, and the FY2024 budget will take effect Oct. 1st.
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