Page 15 - City of Westworth Village FY22 Budget

15

GENERAL FUND

The city uses a conservative approach to budgeting its revenue and expenses, as we are unable
to predict when the pandemic will end or long-term effects to both commercial businesses and
local growth. The two major sources of its revenue for the General Fund are ad valorem and
general sales taxes, making up approximately 70% of city total revenue. The remaining revenue
is generated from franchise fees, permit fees, and court fines and fees.

• Sales tax revenue is dependent on the goods and services sold at Westworth Village
businesses, and are affected by our local retailer’s successes and failures, area
workforce stability, and the overall stability in the U.S. market. The sales tax rate in
Tarrant County is 8.25%, of which two cents of every sales dollar goes to Westworth
Village. One cent is used as revenue in the general fund, ½ cent is used to fund CCPD,
¼ cent for the street fund, and ¼ cent for economic development. We encourage
everyone to support our local Westworth Village businesses – this increases sales tax
revenue which helps keep property taxes low, and it increases local job opportunities.

• Ad Valorem tax revenue, also known as property taxes, are affected by state-imposed
limitations on increases. The city only collects a small portion of your total property tax.
The majority of the total amount collected goes to Tarrant County services and Fort Worth
ISD. This budget is based on no change to the current ad valorem tax rate of $0.475 per
$100 of appraised value. To view how Westworth Village ad valorem tax rates compare
to other areas in Tarrant and surrounding counties, visit the tarranttaxinfo.com website.

General Fund revenue is used to fund the following public services:
• Administration
• Facilities
• Police
• Municipal Court
• Fire Protection and Prevention Services
• Library Services

Some key points of change affecting revenue this year include:
• Overall, general fund revenue is projected to be lower than last year. This is due to the
anticipation of fewer court revenues due to the lingering effects of COVID, a decrease
in permit revenue as the commercial district is almost complete and we have reached a
plateau in residential builds. In addition, the automatic transfer of funds from the
Westworth Redevelopment Authority was eliminated.
• Minimal growth in general sales tax revenue is projected as no new high producing
business is anticipated to add to the tax rolls this year. While COVID did not negatively
impact our sales tax this year, we remain conservative in our projections about its future
effects.
• Maintaining the current ad valorem tax rate based on the TAD estimated net property
tax value of $381,989,884.

www.cityofwestworth.com