Page 29 - City of Fort Worth Budget Book

Executive Message Budget Message

The FY2025 Recommended Budget is the product of prioritizing expenditures with available revenues while
balancing the burden to the taxpayers. The budget process is centered on a broader, organizationally-focused
decision-making process that supports financial health, not only for the upcoming year but well into the future. In
addition to the annual operating budget development, the City adopts a five-year Capital Improvement Program
that addresses the growth and infrastructure needs. These philosophies and processes ensure our focus is not a
narrow operational view but rather a forward-looking strategic view.

The local Fort Worth economy has shown strong growth over the last several years, along with the greater Dallas-
Fort Worth metropolitan area; however, the growing demands on the city’s limited financial resources while
minimizing taxpayer burden continue to set the stage in which the City must operate.

OVERVIEW
The FY2025 Recommended Budget totals nearly $2.79 billion, which includes 8,216 authorized positions (AP)
and consists of 21 different operating departments (excluding Non-Departmental) plus four appointed officials’
offices, across multiple funds, including the General Fund, Special Revenue Funds, Debt Service Funds,
Enterprise Funds, and Internal Service Funds. Of the total budget, 38.1 percent, or $1.06 billion, reflects the cost
of General Fund activities such as public safety, parks, neighborhood services, economic development, property
management, transportation and public works, development, public libraries, and general management of the city.
The remaining 61.9 percent, or $1.73 billion, will fund the operations of the other funds noted above.

BUDGET DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
TheFY2025 budget process began in January of 2024 when City executive staff reviewed the upcoming seven-
year projection. The City Council’s February 2024 retreat focused on five strategic priorities: Economic
Development, Community Investment, Community Safety, Infrastructure and Responsible Growth.

On March 20, the FWLab Department hosted a citywide Budget Kickoff to mark the formal beginning of the
budget development process. The meeting brought together the executive team, department heads, operational
planning division staff, and departmental fiscal coordinators to discuss the overall strategy for developing the
FY2025 budget.

Moving into the development of the FY2025 budget, programs and services were reviewed for prioritization and
cost savings. City staff prioritized the following in preparing the FY2025 Budget:

• Increasing funding for capital investment and maintenance in the General Fund
• Meeting infrastructure needs through implementation of the 2018 & 2022 Bond Programs

• Improving equity of city services
• Enhancing public safety
• Preparing for slower growth of resources, both near-term and into the future
• Not using fund balance/reserves for operations

As staff worked to allocate limited resources, the inclusion or exclusion of various citywide expenditures, revenue
opportunities, individual programs, and existing service levels were all evaluated against these strategies.

As the City navigated through the budget development process, staff updated city executive leadership on the
performance of the FY2024 budget. To facilitate this process, the City conducted comprehensive citywide
forecasts for months five and eight of the fiscal year to monitor current performance and to assist in the
development of the upcoming budget.

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