by At a town hall on Thursday, Arlington City Manager Trey Yelverton informed residents that the city is considering raising the property tax by three cents, in part, to prevent service cuts that might negatively impact the community.
The first of two planned town halls was attended by about 30 Arlington locals at the Arlington police South District Service Center.
Before he took questions and comments, Yelverton gave a presentation to the community, explaining the city’s efforts.
The effects of early AT&T Stadium repayment and the effect of borrowing on the tax rate were among the topics covered. Additionally, two locals expressed their thoughts on what other cuts the city ought to implement.
What has the city done so far?
The city’s initial budget shortfall for 2026 was $25 million. Since November 2024, city employees have been collaborating with the council to find methods to reduce expenses and boost income.
According to city data, the tax rate hike is anticipated to generate over $11 million for the city. The 2026 budget would be balanced by about $7.4 million (funded by 2 cents of the increase).
The city may be able to avoid more fiscal difficulties in 2027 brought on by a new commercial property tax exemption and traveling housing finance corporations with an additional $3.7 million (collected by the additional 1 cent increase).
Get Arlington news that matters
The stories you need to know about the neighborhood you adore. Every Thursday, right in your email.
Reducing public contributions to employee benefits and forgoing a cost-of-living increase were two proposed cuts and reductions that the city’s police and firemen unions vehemently opposed. In June, those were offered as alternatives to the tax hike.
The tax rate rise would eliminate the need for some of the other proposed changes.
Will paying off AT&T help with the current budget challenges?
Arlington declared this week that it would pay the final installment on Friday at AT&T Stadium.
The AT&T Stadium, which is home to the Dallas Cowboys, was financed in 2005 with a 30-year payback plan. According to Yelverton, the city has saved over $150 million and is ten years ahead of schedule.
The good news is that it will be paid off $150 million less than anticipated and ten years ahead of schedule, according to Yelverton. However, the funds are in a different fund that voters have approved specifically for that location, and only for that location, and then the Rangers venue.
Voters approved those levies, therefore they may only be used to settle debt from the Rangers and Cowboys stadiums.
According to Yelverton, the city anticipates paying off the debt associated with the building of Globe Life Field by 2034, which is 14 years ahead of schedule. He anticipates that by paying off the stadium early, the city will save over $200 million.
Are any city bonds motivating the proposed tax increase?
The city’s general budget is entirely distinct from Arlington’s debt service account, which is used to cover expenses such as the bond that voters approved earlier this year.
The funds allocated to debt service cannot be utilized for citywide upkeep, program financing, or payroll.
A slide in Yelverton’s presentation demonstrated that the three cent increase in the tax rate would only be used for the general operating budget.
Arlington has a AAA rating from S&P, the highest grade attainable, indicating that its debt service is sound.
On August 21, the city will host another town hall at 101 W. Abram St. at 6 p.m.
Related
The Journalism Trust Initiative has accredited Fort Worth Report for upholding ethical journalism standards.
Republish this narrative
Noncommercial organizations are exempt from republishing fees. It is forbidden for businesses to operate without a license. For further information, get in touch with us.
Republish this article
The Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License governs this work.
- Look for the “Republish This Story” button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). Do not copy stories straight from the front-end of our web-site.
-
You are required to follow the guidelines and use the republication tool when you share our content. The republication tool generates the appropriate html code.
-
You are required to add this language at the top of every republished story, including a link to the story.
This story was originally published by the Fort Worth Report. You may read
the original version here
.
- You can t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
- You can t sell or syndicate our stories.
- Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
-
If you use our stories in any other medium for example, newsletters or other email campaigns you must make it clear that the stories are from the Fort Worth Report. In all emails, link directly to the story at fortworthreport.org and not to your website.
-
If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using
@FortWorthReport
on Facebook and
@FortWorthReport
on Twitter.
-
You have to credit Fort Worth Report. Please use Author Name, Fort Worth Report in the byline. If you re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: This story was originally published by Fort Worth Report and include our website,
fortworthreport.org
. - You can t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
- Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
- You can t sell or syndicate our stories.
- You can only publish select stories individually not as a collection.
- Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
-
If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using
@FortWorthReport
on Facebook and
@FortWorthReport
on Twitter.
