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Dallas-Fort Worth cities face shrinking revenues and tighter budgets

Dallas-Fort Worth cities face shrinking revenues and tighter budgets

Axios13-08-2025
Several North Texas cities are tightening their budgets as sales and property tax growth stall.
Why it matters: City budgets pay to maintain streets, employ police officers and firefighters and ensure neighborhoods have access to libraries, recreation centers and parks.
The big picture: Municipal budgets have been boosted in the past few years because of record-high tax revenues from the inflated cost of goods and spikes in property values.
Long-established cities like Dallas are seeing flattening tax revenues while growing cities like McKinney are still seeing more money even as inflation and property values have leveled.
Friction point: This year's budget season is happening at a time when "conversations about taxation and government services have become more polarized," Arlington city manager Trey Yelverton writes in his city's budget proposal.
Texas has its own version of the federal DOGE to improve government efficiency and reduce spending of state revenues.
State of play: Some cities are making cuts to offset flattening revenues. For example, Fort Worth's proposed budget relies on cuts of up to 3% to some city departments.
In Dallas, the proposed budget eliminates or repurposes hundreds of positions to meet a voter-approved measure to hire more police officers.
Yes, but: Several North Texas cities are seeing rising sales tax revenues this year.
Plano's 2025-26 proposed budget is $30 million higher than this year's adopted budget.
Catch up quick: Arlington is facing a $20 million shortfall in next fiscal year's budget.
The city plans to increase the property tax rate, cut operational hours of some departments and raise fees for city services, including the garbage collection rate.
Denton faced an estimated $14 million deficit, so its proposed budget includes a slight increase to the property tax rate and cuts to city services, including the K9 and after-school programs.
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