Tarrant County College is considering a property tax rate increase.
The college proposed raising the rate from 11.228 cents to 12 cents per $100 valuation. For every $100,000 in taxable value, the difference would add $7.72 annually to a TCC tax bill.
TCC’s Aug. 6 proposal comes as the college faces lower state funding and pressure to keep tuition and fees flat, along with a nearly $40 billion drop in certified property values. Trustees are weighing whether to raise the rate on property owners while reconsidering exemptions and economic development commitments that reduce the college’s revenue.
Trustees are scheduled to consider the proposed tax rate Aug. 20. That will be followed by public hearings and a Sept. 24 final vote. The tax rate must be approved before Sept. 30.
Chief Financial Officer Pamela Anglin said she entered this budget cycle expecting the opposite: that TCC could begin relying less on property owners.
Texas shifted community colleges toward outcome-based funding in 2023, and colleges statewide exceeded what the state projected to pay. After funding reductions in July, TCC now expects to receive $59.6 million — about $4.1 million less than anticipated, Anglin said.
https://fortworthreport.org/2026/08/09/tarrant-county-college-says-it-earned-more-state-funding-it-isnt-getting-all-of-it After Gov. Greg Abbott called for public colleges to keep tuition and mandatory fees flat in May, TCC reversed planned fee increases that would have generated more than $9 million.
“I thought this is the year we turn it around, where we reduce our reliance on tax revenue,” Anglin said.
Property taxes provide 64% of TCC’s current operating budget. Anglin said in June the college relies on tax revenue more heavily than any other Texas community college.
Even with the proposed higher rate, TCC anticipates less operating property tax revenue next year. The college expects to collect about $289 million this year, roughly $24 million more than originally budgeted.
The fiscal 2027 budget proposal projection is $281 million — an $8 million decrease.
The decline comes as TCC’s property values fell from about $322 billion last year to $283 billion this year — a $39 billion drop. Anglin attributed the reduction to property appraisal freezes, valuation appeals and exemptions.
Total exemptions grew from more than $65 billion to roughly $75 billion.
A September 2025 Tarrant Appraisal District report listed the average single-family property in TCC at $357,707 in market value and $322,837 in net taxable value.
TCC also provides a local residence homestead exemption equal to 1% of a home’s appraised value, with a $5,000 minimum.
Board President Jeannie Deakyne said some of TCC’s budget pressures, such as fewer state dollars and pressure to keep tuition and fees flat, affect community colleges statewide.
The appraisal freeze, Deakyne said, is specific to Tarrant County.
“It's impacting the college district. It's impacting the independent school districts. It is a big deal,” she said.
The two smaller rates that form the tax are shifting. Under TCC’s proposal, the maintenance and operations rate would increase from 9.628 cents to 10.55 cents, while the debt-service rate would drop from 1.6 cents to 1.45 cents.
The overall rate is above TCC’s 11.2349-cent no-new-revenue rate, which would raise the same amount of revenue as the previous year. But it is below the voter-approval rate of just over 12.5 cents — the highest it can go before trustees place the tax on the November ballot.
During the meeting, trustees said they were reconsidering previous decisions that reduced TCC’s property tax revenue. The college contributed more than $7 million this year to tax increment financing districts, which direct new revenue toward economic development.
The payments could reach $11 million next year.
Deakyne asked to examine TCC’s locally adopted homestead exemption, which Anglin preliminarily estimated represents about $23 million annually in forgone tax revenue.
Trustee Veronica Chavez Law said that during her campaign, she intentionally avoided promising never to raise taxes because she didn’t yet know everything that shaped the college’s budget.
Now in her second budget cycle, Chavez Law said she better understands the balance between supporting students and limiting the burden on property owners.
“I don't know how anybody could make that promise without getting in there and really doing our best to balance the needs of our students against bringing in revenue to the college,” she said.
Still, Chavez Law knows that taxpayers will get upset as the college asks for an increase.
Anglin acknowledged the public’s possible anger at potentially increasing the tax rate, she said in an interview. But she said the investment will pay off over time: TCC can help residents get training, secure better-paying jobs, buy homes and eventually contribute property taxes themselves.
“This makes a difference in lives across Tarrant County,” Anglin said. “It gives people a start.”
Dang Le is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Fort Worth.
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