Texas metros grapple with multi-million dollar deficits, eye layoffs and tax tweaks
Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin are confronting sizable budget gaps and are weighing employee cuts, service reductions and property-tax adjustments to balance their books.
Major Texas municipalities are confronting sizable budget shortfalls—Dallas $51 million, Fort Worth $94 million, San Antonio $158 million over two years, and Austin a structural deficit that could exceed $100 million by the next decade. City leaders are weighing measures that include laying off staff, cutting library services, eliminating vacant positions, and raising property taxes while seeking cost-saving innovations such as higher fees for non-residents at zoos and leasing library space to cafés. State legislators have capped local revenue growth at 3.5 percent without voter consent, and Governor Greg Abbott plans further restrictions, prompting criticism from Democrats who say the limits cripple city services.
Experts like John Diamond of the Baker Institute say the combination of inflation, a weak economy and limited state aid leaves little outlook for fiscal relief. Proposals also focus on expanding the tax base through denser “missing-middle” housing, though such plans often meet homeowner opposition. The debate underscores the tension between maintaining essential services and adhering to tight fiscal constraints across Texas’s largest cities.
Why it matters
City budget choices affect services, taxes and housing for millions of Texas residents.
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