police, fire, municipal court, sanitation, parks, library, and water and wastewater systems. The fiscal restraint has created room for tax relief. Haltom City’s current property tax rate is $.557290 per $100 of assessed valuation - the lowest tax rate obtained in the last 20 years. Phelps frames this as remarkable given the infrastructure investments completed during the same period. “The recent record economic growth helped us broaden the tax base to a point where we were able to take care of capital needs while significantly lowering the tax rate,” he notes. Sales tax and development fees now point to growing revenue streams that reduce reliance on property taxes. “These added revenue streams are finally starting to outpace our property tax revenue, and as a result they are helping to offset residential property taxation,” Briggs says, describing a deliberate strategy to shift the tax burden away from homeowners as commercial development accelerates. WATER, ENERGY, AND WORKFORCE Water infrastructure is the most pressing issue for Haltom City and the broader Texas region.“Long-term concern is probably the cost of water infrastructure to the state as a whole,” Mayor Truong says. “It’s not just the cost of water itself; it’s the cost of the infrastructure that’s needed to move the water to our citizens.” Haltom City purchases 100% of its water from Fort Worth, as do many Northeast Tarrant County communities.As Fort Worth expands its own infrastructure to meet regional demand, those costs cascade to municipal customers. Phelps emphasizes water’s fundamental importance to city operations.“The most important thing that a city does for its citizens, the most important thing on a day by day, minute by minute basis, there is nothing more important than safe consistent water coming out of your faucets,” he says.“Without safe, consistent water, things would collapse, there’d be health hazards.” Growth compounds the challenge, requiring continuous infrastructure expansion on both intake 42 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 07, ISSUE 01
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