New laws cutting school district property taxes could save the average homeowner in Fort Worth ISD almost $950.
However, the savings will come only if voters approve a constitutional amendment in November and the school board approves the proposed property tax rate. Trustees received their first look July 25 at how the cuts affect Fort Worth ISD’s tax rate.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed a package of bills into law that pave the way for $18 billion in tax cuts. The laws further lowers school district property tax rates and provides for a $100,000 homestead exemption, which voters will consider approving Nov. 7.
Lawmakers used almost $12.6 billion to reduce rates and offset the loss of property tax revenue with state funding. The package did not provide new funding to schools.
Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, Fort Worth ISD’s chief financial officer, explained the changes to the trustees at their meeting July 25: “As local revenues go down, our state revenue will go up. But we’re going to get the same amount of revenue based on the number of students we receive.”
Fort Worth ISD’s proposed tax rate is its lowest since the 2007-08 school year, according to Texas Education Agency data.
Average property tax bill
The average home in Fort Worth ISD has an appraised value of $287,703, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District. However, only $190,673 of the value is used for taxes.
The new homestead exemption allows property owners to take $100,000 off their home’s appraised value. The school district would then tax only $90,673 of a home’s value.
The average property tax bill to Fort Worth ISD would be $981.45 — nearly 50% lower than what the average homeowner paid in 2022.
Last year, the average homeowner paid $1,928.01 in property taxes to Fort Worth ISD.
That means the average homeowner would save $946.56 in property taxes.
How the tax rate adds up
The overall tax rate is proposed at $1.0824 per $100 of valuation. It is composed of two smaller rates: the maintenance-and-operations tax rate funds day-to-day operations. The debt service rate pays off debt.
The proposed maintenance-and-operations tax rate is 79.04 cents. The lowest figure school districts can levy for the rate is 78.92 cents. The CFO told trustees the district is .12 cents shy of that floor.
The highest maintenance-and-operations tax rate school districts can charge is 85.8 cents.
The proposed debt service rate is 29.2 cents, the same rate the district has levied since 2018.
The overall tax rate is a drop of nearly 20 cents from 2022’s rate of $1.2816.
“It is significant,” Arrieta-Candelaria said.
How did we get here?
Trustee Kevin Lynch asked Arrieta-Candelaria to explain how administrators landed at the proposed tax rate.
The Texas Education Agency has a formula that her office used to calculate the rate, the CFO said. The state calculates school district property tax rates based on a comparison of property values from the current year to the previous.
What’s next?
TEA has to approve Fort Worth ISD’s new tax rate before the school board formally adopts it. Administrators expect to receive TEA’s OK on Aug. 5.
District officials plan to publish a public notice about the tax rate on Aug. 11.
The school board will consider adopting the rate at its Aug. 22 meeting.
Jacob Sanchez is an enterprise journalist for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or via Twitter. 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.
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