Tarrant County homeowners could save money on their property taxes if the county adopts a lower proposed tax rate.
Last year, commissioners passed the biggest tax rate cut in years. The new proposed budget would bring the tax rate even lower, to 18.75 cents per $100 of a home's taxable value.
Even at the current tax rate, "we are by far the lowest” of the six major counties in Texas, County Administrator Chandler Merritt told county commissioners Thursday.
So how much could residents save under the even lower rate?
The average taxable value of a single-family home in Tarrant County is about $277,000. That home's average annual tax bill with the new proposed rate would be about $519. That's $35.70 less than last fiscal year.
That $519 bill includes available homestead exemptions, which reduce a home’s taxable value by a certain percentage. In June, Tarrant County maxed out its homestead exemptions at 20%.
County taxes make up a small fraction of a resident’s property tax bill. School district and city taxes take up a much bigger chunk.
The Tarrant County Commissioners Court is set to vote on the new tax rate on Sept. 17, when they will also vote to approve the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget.
Commissioners got an overview of that budget Thursday morning. At a total of about $846 million, it’s $50 million less than the fiscal year 2024 budget.
The drop in revenue came from a combination of factors, said Director of Budget and Risk Management Helen Giese.
"We did the total 20% homestead exemption. We reduced the tax rate,” she said.
On top of that, the net taxable value of properties in Tarrant County stayed flat year-to-year.
The proposed budget cuts the county retirement rate — the amount of money the county puts aside to pay retired employees — for $24 million in savings, Giese said. The county was previously over-funding its retirement pool and will cut that contribution down to the minimum required rate, plus some extra money for cost-of-living increases for retirees.
The budget also shaves several million from indigent defense, the money that pays for lawyers for people accused of crimes.
That’s not a funding cut to indigent defense, because it’s extra money that wasn’t being used, Giese told commissioners.
“The budget office is very aware that we are required to pay indigent defense, and we make sure that we have money available for that,” she said.
Even with the drop in revenue, the budget is balanced, according to county staff.
This is Democratic County Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks' final budget after 20 years on the Commissioners Court. He congratulated staff on their work but warned further decreases to tax revenue could hurt social safety net programs.
"I can see the handwriting on the wall, and we're going to hit that wall,” Brooks said. “We're going to have challenges in the future with promoting the general welfare."
The new budget does not include money for the county’s Mental Health Jail Diversion Center. That’s a place for people with mental illness, suspected of low-level, nonviolent crimes, where they can get treatment instead of jail time.
“I don't have the funds for it, period,” Giese said.
My Health My Resources of Tarrant County, or MHMR, operates the center. They're seeking other sources of funding, Giese said. As of right now, there's money to keep the center going until about April, she added.
In an emailed statement, MHMR Chief of Staff Catherine Carlton wrote the organization's contract to manage the center ends in December 2024.
"As we anticipate the end of federal funding, MHMR, JPS and Tarrant County are working together to determine sustainable funding strategies for the future," Carlton wrote. "From the inception of the center there was always intention to evaluate at this point and give consideration to the best path forward."
This story has been updated with comments from MHMR.
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