Debate Shows Differences, Similarities For How County Judge Candidates Could Lead Tarrant

Arlington TX

22 February, 2022

7:02 PM

Description

By Kristen Barton, Fort Worth Report February 21, 2022 Candidates for the top spot in Tarrant County went head to head on issues of property taxes, elections, education and local versus state control in a debate put on by the Fort Worth Report, KERA and SteerFW on Monday at the Texas Wesleyan University campus. The county judge candidates had two debates by party. Democrat candidates Deborah Peoples and Marvin Sutton debated one on one, and Republican candidates Byron Bradford, Robert Trevor Buker, Tim O'Hare and Betsy Price faced off. The first issue presented to candidates were property taxes and how candidates would lower tax rates while keeping a balanced budget. The Tarrant County Commissioners Court has set the county tax rate at 22.9 cents per $100 valuation, and the public hospital district rate at 22.4 cents. Overall, the county levies a tax rate of 45.3 cents. While the 22.9 cent rate is the lowest the commissioners court has levied since 2007, property owners are facing higher tax bills because of appraisals. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.