While 2024 is a big year for elections both locally and across the country, Fort Worth’s city staff are already looking ahead to Election Day 2026. The city will ask voters to approve millions of dollars in debt to pay for improvements.
The city of Fort Worth unveiled its proposed schedule for the 2026 bond election Tuesday. Voters approved the city’s 2022 bond, giving the green light to $560 million in capital improvement projects. The city typically sets its bond program every four years, and voters have overwhelmingly supported propositions since at least 2014.
The 2026 bond could be used for facilities, roads/transportation, parks and open space.
Municipal bonds are debt securities issued by cities and the primary way Fort Worth funds capital improvements, separate from it’s annual budgeting process, which usually doesn’t address larger construction projects. Most government leaders advocate for bond elections as the best path for a growing city to keep up with pressing infrastructure and facility needs.
“There is plenty of time for public input,” City Manager David Cooke told council members at Tuesday’s meeting.
The stated goals for the 2026 bond program are similar to 2022’s goals, including maintaining existing infrastructure and improving mobility.
The city’s departments will submit projects to be considered for bond funding to a prioritization committee, who will make recommendations to city management based on 10 criteria including equity and return on investment. Departments began submitting project proposals this month. Public outreach will begin in October 2024 while the early project list is finalized.
According to the draft schedule, the city will seek public input from October 2024 through August 2025. The city will finalize and approve the project list by December 2025.
The bond election will take place in May 2026.
The city pays off its debt, including debt and tax notes, through the debt service portion of the city’s tax rate. Fort Worth City Council approved a debt service rate of 14.75 cents per $100 in 2023, the same as 2022’s debt service rate.
Rising property appraisals mean Fort Worth residents likely will see higher tax bills, despite the rate staying consistent. Fort Worth was one of the fewlocal taxing entities to keep its tax rate above its no-new-revenue rate.
If the city reduces its debt service tax rate, it could put itself in a perilous financial position when taking out future debt to pay for bond programs, Cooke told council members. The City Council eventually approved the budget with the same debt service rate.
Fort Worth received an average bond rating of AA from credit rating agencies in 2021, the level just below prime. Bond ratings, also known as credit ratings, are assessments of municipal bonds’ credit risk at a particular point in time. Ratings can change over time.
Rachel Behrndt is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at rachel.behrndt@fortworthreport.org or via X.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.