Tarrant County College trustees approved a $429.4 million budget for fiscal year 2026-27 last Thursday, along with a proposed tax-rate increase of less than one cent per $100 of property valuation. The move would raise annual TCC property taxes by $27.02 for a Tarrant County home with a $350,000 taxable value, or $7.72 for every $100,000 in taxable value. Trustees are set to vote on the final tax rate and hold a public hearing on it on September 10.
The new budget marks a 3.5% increase over last fiscal year's $415 million spending plan, according to Community Impact, and it prioritizes high-demand workforce programs while granting TCC employees a 2% salary increase. The college also has to absorb an 8% jump in employee health insurance costs. Chief Financial Officer Pamela Anglin has said the proposed rate must be approved by September 30 or the current rate stays in place, since the new fiscal year begins October 1 and runs through September 30, 2027.
A Statewide Funding Formula Falls Short
Board Chair Elva LeBlanc said the shortfall traces back to a mismatch between what the state expected and what Texas colleges actually delivered. More degree and certificate completions, workforce training, and enrollment created a gap between available funding and outcomes produced, LeBlanc said, adding that the state underestimated colleges' and universities' funding needs for the upcoming fiscal year. TCC now expects to receive $59.6 million through the state funding formula, which is $4.1 million less than anticipated.
That gap reflects a statewide pattern reported by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which adjusted its funding metrics after community colleges statewide exceeded outcome predictions under the state's 2023 shift to outcomes-based funding. As The Texas Tribune reported, that formula hit a statutory $1.2 billion cap when student completion numbers outpaced legislative budget projections, leaving the coordinating board to underfund schools across Texas by an estimated $81 million. Enacted through House Bill 8 and expanded by Senate Bill 1786, the law shifted 95% of state formula funding for community colleges away from enrollment seat-time toward metrics like credential completion, university transfers, and dual-credit courses, according to Texas 2036.
A Tuition Freeze Cuts Off Another Revenue Stream
Compounding the state shortfall, TCC reversed planned fee increases that would have generated more than $9 million in additional revenue, keeping tuition and mandatory fees flat for students. That reversal followed Governor Greg Abbott's directive freezing undergraduate tuition and fees through 2027. The fee rollback undoes hikes Hoodline previously reported hit associate degree costs by roughly 15% when the board first adopted them in February.
With state formula dollars capped and fee revenue frozen, property tax adjustments have become one of the college's few remaining levers. That is complicated by the Tarrant Appraisal District's decision to reappraise property values every two years instead of annually, a policy that contributed to a 12.11% drop in TCC's certified taxable property values, from $322 billion last fiscal year to $283 billion now. TCC officials have noted that the frozen appraisal schedule is unique to Tarrant County and creates revenue challenges across local school districts and college systems, per reporting from the Fort Worth Report.
Why Property Taxes Carry So Much Weight
Property taxes account for roughly 64% of TCC's operating budget, a heavier reliance on local property tax revenue than any other community college system in Texas, according to KERA News. Anglin has noted that legislative tax exemptions and homestead credits carved out $23 million in revenue during the current fiscal year alone. TCC's local homestead exemption, set at 1% of a home's appraised value with a $5,000 minimum, further reduces the college's tax collection capacity, a dynamic Community Impact has also detailed in its own coverage of trustee debates over exemptions and economic development commitments.
Roughly $135 billion in Tarrant County assessed property value remained under appeal or protest at the Tarrant Appraisal District as of June, complicating revenue projections for local taxing units including TCC, the Fort Worth Report noted in earlier coverage. Trustees have expressed frustration over appraisal delays that force the college to build budgets around uncertain valuation estimates.
The Proposed Rate, Broken Down
The board approved consideration of raising the overall tax rate from $0.11228 to $0.12 per $100 of valuation. That proposed rate includes a maintenance and operations rate of $0.1055 per $100 valuation, up from $0.09628, alongside a debt service rate of $0.0145 per $100 valuation, down from $0.016. TCC had held its property tax rate flat at $0.11228 for fiscal year 2025-26, a rate that ranked as the 56th lowest among 58 major public taxing entities in Tarrant County, and that budget used zero-based budgeting for the first time to trim operational costs by 1.41%.
TCC estimates it generates roughly $2.3 billion in annual economic impact across North Texas, returning about $1.30 in taxpayer value for every dollar invested in the college. The college operates five campuses serving tens of thousands of regional students and employers. Even so, affordability pressures persist beyond the tax rate debate: Hoodline has reported that federal student loan nonpayment rates for Tarrant County's public higher education institutions stood at roughly 16% through May 2025, far below the nearly 40% nonpayment rate seen at local for-profit institutions, underscoring the balancing act between keeping college accessible and keeping TCC's finances solvent.
If trustees do not approve the new rate by September 30, the tax rate will remain unchanged for another year, Anglin has said. The September 10 vote and public hearing will determine whether Tarrant County homeowners see that modest increase reflected on their next tax bill.
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