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Tarrant County College will consider a tax rate increase for the 2026-27 fiscal year, according to TCC documents.
What’s happening?
TCC’s board of directors held a special meeting Aug. 6 to discuss the possible tax rate increase.
The college proposed raising the rate from $0.11228 to $0.12 per $100 valuation, according to a presentation given to the board by Chief Financial Officer Pamela Anglin.
Board president Jeannie Deakyne said based on her calculations, schools in Tarrant County specifically are being affected by the Tarrant Appraisal District’s decision to reappraise property values every two years instead of every year.
Gov. Greg Abbott also halted college increases in tuition in May for undergraduate students, according to a release from his office. Anglin said TCC gave up $23 million dollars in tax exemptions for the 2025-26 fiscal year based on the county’s homestead exemption.
“Property appraisals being frozen by the tax appraisal district is unique to Tarrant County and is having a huge and disparate impact on public education at every level,” she said. “If my public education math is correct, when you look at the taxable value of property that we are drawing our revenue from ... combined with the legislative, mandated exemptions, we are looking at a 13% decrease [in property tax revenue.] That’s not sustainable.”
According to the college’s FY 2025-26 budget breakdown, the three main revenue sources for TCC are property tax revenue, state appropriations and tuition and fees. Interest income and other income sources add a small portion of funding for a total of roughly $415 million in maintenance and operational revenue.
“We have no control over any of those three things except property tax revenue,” said trustee Veronica Chavez Law. “I know it’s a careful balance among this board to make sure we adequately fund the college and not sacrifice anything else.”
What’s next?
The proposed tax rate will be voted on by the board at the Aug. 20 board meeting, Anglin said. After that, public hearings will be held in September, Anglin said. Those public hearing notices will be published by the school.
A vote for the tax-rate approval will be Sept. 24, and the rate has to be approved by Sept. 30 or the tax rate will remain the same, Anglin said.
The 2026-27 fiscal year begins Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2027.
