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Flood Of Red Ink In Fort Worth

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By BJ Austin, KERA News

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-904104.mp3

Dallas, TX – Fort Worth's budget shortfall keeps going up. It's now 77 million dollars.

Budget Officer Horatio Porter says property values are down for the first time in more than a decade, according to preliminary numbers just released. Building permit revenue is also down, and healthcare costs are up.

Porter says it's another very difficult budget year for the City Council.

Porter: It's going to take in all likelihood a combination of program reductions, service reductions as well as new revenues to ultimately close that budget gap.

Porter says so far, no one is talking about specific layoffs. He says the Council "could" dip into tax revenue from Barnett Shale natural gas drilling again this year. And there is talk of cutting the homestead exemption in half, to 10%.

Email BJ Austin