Should Arlington raise taxes? Firefighters, police unions say budget cuts could create new problems

Emergency responders in Arlington are worried possible cuts impacting employees could leave the city with fewer cops and firefighters and force the city to lower standards like education, mental and physical fitness for those employees.

Presidents of the city’s firefighters association and two police associations say the best option for keeping emergency services the same and closing a $25 million budget gap is to raise property taxes.

The city council and leaders on staff have been working since November 2024 to eliminate the projected deficit. Most of that gap was closed through cutting positions and reducing funding to departments and programs.

But city leaders still have to find out how to either cut expenses or find funds to make up for around $6.3 million. Texas law requires cities to have a balanced budget – they cannot operate on a deficit or end the fiscal year with one.

City Manager Trey Yelverton said the looming deficit is, in large part, a result of changes with property taxes.

The Tarrant Appraisal District also decided to conduct new appraisals every two years, a move several city council members have said is the primary blame for such extreme money trouble.

More protests over Arlington property valuations have been successful than usual, leading to less income than was expected from property taxes.

Yelverton previously said the city wants residents to protest property values when they think they are overvalued but said the number of successful protests was a blow to the city’s coffers.

Now, the city is looking to employee benefits, raises and retirement as possible areas to cut funding and balance the budget.

In June, Yelverton presented four possible solutions for the city’s remaining gap in next year’s budget. Three of the options would directly impact employees: cutting $5.4 million from fringe benefits, foregoing a 3% raise to save $6.9 million and cutting 40 positions for another $4 million.

The city has the option to eliminate those 40 positions but provide a year’s worth of capital for those jobs through the reserve fund. That would give those employees a year to either transfer to another position within the city or find work elsewhere.

Yelverton said the city council could mix-and-match those options – like reducing raises instead of cutting them completely and making smaller cutbacks to fringe benefits.

But representatives for the city’s police and firefighters said even small changes could impact emergency services.

Being competitive

Jesse Minton worries cuts to benefits, raises and retirement will make Arlington less competitive in the job market.

Minton, president of the Arlington Police Association, said the city could hemorrhage qualified police officers and have trouble replacing them if it goes forward with these changes.

Minton has been with the department for 30 years and lives in Arlington.

“I want it to be a quality department but with that, you have to pay an equivalent amount, a competitive amount to keep those good people not only staying here that we’ve got but also coming here to get the job and apply and want to work here,” Minton said.

Firefighters in the city aren’t as concerned about losing experienced staff, but Arlington Professional Firefighters Association President Jimmy Studer said they are worried about how cuts will impact the city.

Studer said the changes to insurance contributions will be hard to argue against. It’s something he doesn’t want to see but said the city has been paying more into employee insurance plans than most cities he knows about.

Yelverton said changes to the city’s insurance offerings would still see employee-only contributions at 10%, with the city paying for 90% of the cost. For employees who also cover a spouse or their family, Yelverton said the city is exploring the option of changing that contribution to 85% from the city and 15% from employees.

Studer said his concern is also for other city departments. The firefighters association, through its meet and confer agreement with the city, has more of a voice than employees in other departments.

“Police and fire have a voice, unlike most of the other city departments,” Studer said. “And so we are advocating for them also in this.”

He’s not as worried about turnover as police, but he is concerned about keeping up in technology and other standards.

The fire department needs to stay up to date with technology to keep residents in the city safe. Making cuts to city departments, especially fire and police, could make it harder to do that. He said raising the tax rate would be the best option to avoid falling behind.

Lowering standards

Brett Worman is the president of the Arlington Municipal Patrolman’s Association. He’s seen officers leaving the Arlington Police Department in a slow trickle over his time as a cop.

It’s always been manageable, with the department able to bring in new recruits and seasoned officers from other cities. If the cuts proposed to the city council go through, he said the loss of officers could get worse.

“From my perspective and kind of seeing the ebbs and blows over the last 26 years, I think the things that they’re talking about taking away from a benefit perspective would lead to more of something closer toward a hemorrhage,” Worman said.

Minton, the president of the separate Arlington Police Association, said he shares that concern. He’s worried officers will leave for other cities in the area, like Grand Prairie, Fort Worth and Dallas, and that reduced benefits will make it harder to refill those positions.

His worry is that it will lead the police department to lower its standards for officers. That would be bad for people in the city, and he said it could also be bad for the city itself.

“That’s something that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Minton said. “Bad decisions by police officers with lower standards could bankrupt the city.”

He said hiring officers with lower standards for education or mental or physical fitness could get the city sued while lowering the reputation and public trust in the department.

Yelverton said he’s not concerned about lowered standards in the department.

The department has recently changed standards – something the department and the police associations approved – by removing the requirement for a college degree.

That change allowed the department to hire officers without a degree but who had other experience, such as military or work with another law enforcement agency.

But Yelverton said the city will remain competitive with others of similar size.

Raising taxes

Raising taxes by 1 cent would provide more than $4 million in taxes to the city. Pairing that with reductions to exemptions, like homestead and disabled exemptions, is one option Yelverton said the city council should consider to overcome the budget challenges.

That increase would translate to an average increase of about $6 per resident, according to city data.

Police and fire associations in Arlington believe it should be raised by 2 cents per $100 of valuation, potentially completely closing the remaining gap.

Arlington raised taxes by one cent per $100 of a home’s valuation in 2025, the first-time taxes in Arlington didn’t go down since 2017.

Worman, the municipal patrolman’s association president, said raising taxes wouldn’t be a perfect solution, but it would be a step in the right direction.

“I think it helps kind of bridge that gap of the deficit that the city manager and the city you’re looking at,” Worman said. “I think it pushes us forward. I think allows us to remain competitive with that increase.”

Minton said the police department is already struggling – other cities pay more and give raises earlier than Arlington, and several command roles have been filled in an acting capacity for too long.

Raising taxes could help balance the budget without furthering those problems, he said.

A 1% reduction to the homestead exemption for Arlington residents could also help cover the potential deficit. That reduction would provide the city an additional $1.3 million next year, according to city data Yelverton presented to the council in June. Nearly 63% of all property tax accounts in Arlington receive the homestead exemption.

Studer said Arlington residents need to know that keeping property taxes the same could have long-term, negative impacts on the city’s police and fire services.

“It’s time to stop balancing a budget on the backs of the city employees,” Studer said. “The city likes to run lean and they love to brag it, do more with less, and it’s going to catch up to us one of these days, and we’re sick, we’re tired of it.”

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