Tarrant County commissioners lower JPS hospital’s tax rate as part of county tax cut

Tarrant County commissioners presented a united force Tuesday and voted to lower the tax rate for the Tarrant County Hospital District for the first time in years.

The five commissioners voted unanimously to lower the tax rate to 19.45 cents per $100 of assessed value. That rate would amount to a tax bill of $612.68 for someone owning a $350,000 home with a homestead exemption.

The court rejected the proposed tax rate and budget that had been approved by the hospital district’s board of managers last week. The hospital board, whose members are appointed by county commissioners, voted 7-3 to approve a $1.5 billion budget and a tax rate of 22.4429 cents per $100 of assessed value.

“I don’t know whether the board did not understand that it was the county’s policy that we were going to go below the no new revenue rate, or if for some reason they just disagreed with the county’s policy,” said commissioner Roy Brooks before Tuesday’s vote.

The president and CEO of JPS, Dr. Karen Duncan, said after the vote that the lower tax rate would not affect the health network’s services or the timeline of its bond projects.

Duncan said she was not sure of the next steps for JPS’s 2024 budget, given that the $1.5 billion budget that was approved by the hospital board relied on a higher tax rate to produce about 38% of the health network’s revenue.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.