JPS Health Network is prepared to lose millions of dollars in tax revenue for 2025 after Tarrant County lowered the hospital district’s tax rate, but board members are divided on the decision. 

Hospital district board members voted 5-4 Sept. 26 to reaffirm the hospital district’s original fiscal year 2025 budget, which will now result in a $14 million loss in tax revenue. The decision comes over a week after Tarrant County commissioners approved a lower tax rate than previously proposed. 

JPS is Tarrant County’s taxpayer-supported hospital district that provides various health care needs to residents. 

Tarrant County Commissioners Court can approve a tax rate without requiring it to pass through the JPS board of managers, which oversees the hospital district. This is the second consecutive year the court voted to lower the rate. 

JPS board members were split on whether the hospital district has enough revenue to support itself without taxpayer dollars. 

JPS’ original 2025 budget was based on a proposed tax rate of $0.1875, but the newly approved rate is lower, at $0.1825. The new rate is projected to bring in about $509 million in tax revenue for the hospital district, a decrease of $30 million from 2024.

During the meeting, JPS board chair Roger Fisher, who was appointed by Commissioner Gary Fickes, said it “came as a surprise” when commissioners approved the lower tax rate.

In order to minimize the impact on the accessibility and financial sustainability of JPS, hospital leaders decided to remove the $14 million tax revenue from its profit. 

“It would be unfair of this board to request our team revise the current budget. … Any alteration we make could potentially compromise patient care or harm our employees by depriving them of earned raises or merit pay increases,” Fisher said. “This decision will significantly alter our margin for fiscal year 2025, but it should keep us within the limits of our bond covenants.” 

Fisher was referring to the hospital system’s master facility plan, which is supported by an $800 million bond package voters approved in 2018. The plan details new facilities, including a medical home, psychiatric emergency center, medical outpatient building, pavilion expansion and a new hospital. Hospital leaders estimate the bond projects will total over $2.1 billion — a 40% jump from their 2022 estimate of $1.5 billion. 

JPS leaders now estimate its overall operating revenue for 2025, which includes the new tax revenue, will be roughly $1.7 billion. The Tarrant County hospital district’s operating expenses will be $1.65 billion, an increase of $122 million from fiscal year 2024.

Aside from the decrease in tax revenue, hospital leaders are optimistic as JPS’ operating revenues — comprising patient services, Medicaid funding, retail pharmacy and other funds — are expected to increase by $23 million to total $1.2 billion in 2025.

Board member Ralph Waldo Emerson Jr. followed Fisher’s remarks, believing JPS leaders need to be a unit when addressing Tarrant commissioners. “Are we sending mixed messages to the commissioners?” he asked his colleagues. 

“I feel this board needs to be in sync, that we don’t go to our commissioners and continue to say we got this revenue, we can keep reducing the tax rate,” Emerson added, who is an appointee of Commissioner Roy Brooks. “We’ve got to be one accord that we are committed to fulfilling the master facilities plan as we promised the voters.” 

Board member Timothy Davis, who is an appointee of County Judge Tim O’Hare, said he doesn’t share similar concerns about the tax revenue since the hospital district has several other payer sources. 

“This is always going to be a political discussion among us and with connection to our colleagues, each other, and our commissioners, especially,” Davis said. “We should be incredibly proud that we continue to turn the profit that we do, and I think that we need to be realistic with the rate along the way with that.” 

Board member Blake Woodard, also appointed by O’Hare, said he wasn’t surprised by the commissioners’ decision to set the tax rate at $0.1825, but instead was surprised when he heard the initial $0.1875 rate proposed in August. 

Woodard’s long-term goal as a JPS board member is to set a tax rate of zero, believing the hospital district should be self-sustaining from its own revenue sources. The hospital district has enough funds to support its construction programs, he said.

Those views were not shared by all board members. Board member Dorothy DeBose said JPS needs to have additional funds to grow patient services, especially as Fort Worth’s population increases.

“When people start saying ‘let’s just do away with (tax revenue),’ that also impacts what we can do too, and since we cannot shut our doors when we get this many patients, it has to have some flexibility so we can continue to take care of patients,” DeBose, a Brooks appointee, said. “I am against not having a future.” 

Moving forward, Fisher hopes JPS leaders regularly provide commissioners with every “bit of information” regarding the hospital district’s budget and performance. 

“We have to get to a point in our relationships with our commissioners and the way that they feel about this hospital system, to where they ask us what we need,” he said.

David Moreno is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.

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