During a work session Dec. 2, Assistant City Attorney Gavin Midgley presented options for possible changes to the city charter that could be voted on during the May 2, 2026, election.
Proposed changes include increasing council and mayor pay, term limits, staggering terms and meeting requirements.
Midgley said the next step would be another work session to review language since the deadline to call an election is Feb. 13, 2026. If the council decides to bypass it, the next options for a vote would be November 2026 or May 2027, he said.
The details
During the May 2026 election, Fort Worth will have a special election to fill the council District 10 spot currently held by Alan Blaylock. He announced in October that he would run for the Texas House District 93 seat, and the election would fill his council term through 2027.
“Adding a charter amendment election wouldn't be a significant cost to the city, because we're already holding an election,” Midgley said.
There is also likely to be $840 million bond called in the May election. Council would formally call for a bond election in January, according to information provided at town halls for Districts 4 and 10.
That special election led to a point by Midgley that perhaps the council should look at staggering terms.
The May 1, 2027, election will have all 10 council positions and the mayor's seat up for election, which happens every two years in odd-numbered years, according to the city website.
According to the presentation, council terms in Fort Worth could be extended to three or four years or be staggered so not all 11 spots are on the ballot every two years.
He presented information on term length and limits in other major Texas cities.
The Dallas mayor can serve two four-year terms, while council members can serve four two-year terms.
In Houston, San Antonio and Austin, the term length is four years, and there are two-term limits for both council members and the mayor.
By the numbers
Pay for the mayor and council members has been on the ballot twice during the past 10 years. Fort Worth voters were against pay raises in 2016 and 2022, according to the presentation.
The most recent attempt—which would have had the mayor receive half the average salary of department directors, while the council would have received half the average salary of assistant directors—failed with 52% voting no.
The 2016 ballot issue proposed $60,000 for the mayor and $45,000 for council members. That failed with 65.4% voting no, according to election data.
According to the city charter, council members earn $25,000 a year while the mayor earns $29,000.
“It would be up to this body,” Mayor Mattie Parker said of adding the council and mayor's pay to the charter. “If there was a consensus on council to put it in a charter.”
Zooming in
Midgley presented several other examples of mayor and council pay in the state. In El Paso, council members make $45,300 while the mayor makes $67,900. San Antonio City Council members make $70,200, and the mayor makes $87,800. During the May election, Lewisville passed six charter changes, including changing monthly meeting pay from $50 per meeting to $400, or $4,800 a year.
What else
Other possible charter amendments include:
- Reducing the council quorum from two-thirds to a simple majority, or 60%
- Eliminating public hearings for department heads and/or council appointees
- Eliminating the restriction against budget adoption at the same time as the budget hearing
