Fort Worth residents can expect their city’s service levels to hold steady, with some seeing amplification, as the City Council gave its nod to the Fiscal Year 2026 budget on Tuesday. The new budget, showing a 10.77% upswing from FY2025, totals $3.09 billion and comes in response to a ballooning population that now tips over a million souls, as per a City of Fort Worth release.
Where is that extra $300 million going? Funds are earmarked for maintaining the City’s Police, Fire, and EMS services, and for driving initiatives such as the Housing Priority Repair Program, Mobile Tool Shed Program, and bolstering animal shelters. Also, there’s an injection of PayGo funds designated for streets and parks, keeping in stride with the City Council’s Strategic Priorities.
Fort Worth taxpayers will also find a smidge of relief—the approved tax rate for FY2026 is set at $0.6700, that’s a quarter cent drop from the current $0.6725. The breakdown funnels $0.5225 towards operations and maintenance, and the remaining $0.1475 goes to service debt…