09/09/2026
During the Sept. 8 meeting, the Bedford City Council unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget and a property tax rate of $0.566599 per $100 of taxable value.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ?
For a home with the average taxable value of $319,630, the new rate is expected to mean approximately $11.18 more per month, or $134.13 more per year, for the City portion of the property tax bill.
๐๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐๐๐
This yearโs budget came with some significant challenges. The cost of providing City services continues to rise, while revenue has not kept pace. Sales tax revenue has leveled off and home values declined. In addition, approximately 36% of Bedford homes have an over-65 City property tax freeze, meaning their taxable value does not generate additional revenue as property values rise. As a result, more of the burden for generating new residential property tax revenue falls on the remaining 64% of Bedford homes.
Before considering additional revenue, City staff looked closely at where costs could be reduced, where possible without making cuts that would significantly affect the core services residents rely on. Over the past several years, the City has reduced staffing, right-sized its vehicle fleet, changed electricity providers, reviewed insurance costs and found other ways to operate more efficiently.
For this budget alone, staff reduced expenses across more than 250 budget line items, with some individual expenses cut by as much as 60%. Just some of the larger reductions totaled approximately $400,000, with additional savings found throughout the budget.
Even with those reductions, additional revenue was needed to maintain existing service levels and address critical needs that could no longer reasonably be delayed.
๐ฆ๐ผ, ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐๐ป๐ฑ?
Priorities include Police and Fire services, street and infrastructure maintenance, and replacing aging equipment and technology. The budget includes critical public safety equipment, replacement Police vehicles, Library repairs, sewer inspection equipment, winter weather response equipment and a 2% pay increase for City employees.
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐บ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐
๐ฑ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ด๐ผ?
For some perspective, the average Bedford homeowner pays approximately $150.92 per month, or $4.96 per day, in City property taxes. Of that monthly amount, about $50.05 supports Police, $32.89 supports Fire, $9.81 supports Parks and Recreation, $5.51 supports the Library, and $3.18 supports Fleet and Streets, along with other City services.
The goal of this budget is straightforward: reduce where we can, maintain what we have, and fund what we need.
๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
Review the complete adopted budget at bedfordtx.gov/budget.
