Tarrant Appraisal District board members approved a $33.9 million budget for the next fiscal year, with the majority of dollars going toward payroll costs as the district prepares for its lowest staff count since 1999.
About 67%, or $22.7 million, of TAD’s fiscal year 2027 budget will pay the salaries, retirement and insurance benefits, and pension contributions for the district’s planned 194 staff positions. That reflects a 5% reduction in staff since 2024, according to a budget presentation to board members.
The board shaved about half a million dollars off of the $34.4 million budget proposed by Chief Appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt, the district’s top executive who oversees property appraisals and crafts the budget over which board members have final say. The approved budget, which starts in October, marks a 2.6% increase over last year’s budget and a 2.35% increase to the 73 taxing units governed by TAD.
New expenses include the voter election of three TAD board members, a state-mandated change to the board whose members were previously all appointed by TAD taxing entities. This November marks the second time Tarrant County voters get to directly vote on board appointments, but the election comes with an estimated $800,000 price tag for the district to pay.
Instead of including such costs in next year’s budget, the board voted to cover about $400,000 with available funds now, then factor the other half into the 2028 budget. Members also discussed splitting budget costs of future TAD elections across two adjacent budget cycles.
“This year’s election cost will come out of TAD’s committed funds,” Bobbitt said via email. “The proposal was made in order to begin budgeting for the election in the years moving forward, with approximately half of the cost coming from each year’s budget for the biennial election.”
Dollars budgeted for employee training and travel increased by about 26% from last year up to about $550,000. Bobbitt said the increase was necessary to accommodate anticipated out-of-county travel next year, while most professional travel and training this year happened in Tarrant County.
Under the staffing reduction, Bobbitt said the budget still allows for 3% annual merit increases for employee salaries.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
