Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Tuesday: sunny, high near 101, heat index values as high as 105. Tonight: mostly clear, low around 77, heat index values as high as 104. Wednesday: sunny, high near 99, heat index values as high as 103.

Source: National Weather Service, Fort Worth, forecast updated Sept. 8, 10:52 UTC; no active alerts for Aledo as of 10:47 UTC

Willow Park's council holds its budget and tax-rate hearings tonight and votes on a rate not to exceed $0.429041 per $100

The agenda, posted Sept. 1, lists a public hearing on the proposed 2026-2027 budget (item 6), an ordinance adopting it (item 7), Resolution No. 2026-34 ratifying the property tax increase reflected in the budget (item 8), a hearing on the tax rate (item 9), and an ordinance adopting a rate not to exceed 0.429041 per $100 valuation for tax year 2026 (item 10). The packet's Property Tax Information page lists the no-new-revenue rate at $0.429041, the voter-approval rate at $0.470653, the de minimis rate at $0.466499 and last year's adopted rate at $0.421646, and splits the rate into $0.169112 for maintenance and operations and $0.259929 for debt; item 10 on the agenda prints the debt levy as $0.25929. The council voted 4-0 by roll call on Aug. 25 to propose the rate (Crummel, Contreras, Wright, Smith), per the Aug. 25 minutes in tonight's packet.

What no-new-revenue means. Tax Code Section 26.04 defines the no-new-revenue rate by a formula: last year's levy, minus the levy on property that left the roll, divided by this year's total value minus the value of new property. It is the rate that collects the same total tax from the properties taxed in both years, so it rises when values fall and falls when they rise. The agenda's Taxpayer Impact Statement shows the median Willow Park homestead's taxable value falling from $426,133 to $407,970, and the packet's cover page shows the no-new-revenue rate moving from $0.424084 last year to $0.429041 this year. New property is left out of that calculation, so a unit at the no-new-revenue rate still collects more in total; the cover page puts the revenue from new property added to the roll this year at $179,174. The cover-page comparison counts new property and the no-new-revenue calculation leaves it out, which is why the same packet can say both that the rate equals the no-new-revenue rate and that the budget raises $124,891, or 3.38 percent, more property tax revenue than last year's budget. State law requires both statements.

Aledo's Aug. 20 vote shows the same rule from the other side. The council adopted $0.352415, a lower rate than the year before, but the motion the state requires read that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a rate of $0.352415, which is effectively a 0.77% increase in the tax rate, because that rate sat above Aledo's no-new-revenue rate. Willow Park's rate goes up and is the no-new-revenue rate; Aledo's went down and was, in the statute's words, an increase. The two other benchmark rates: the voter-approval rate, $0.470653 for Willow Park, is the no-new-revenue maintenance-and-operations rate times 1.035 plus the debt rate and any unused increment, and a rate above it goes to the voters; the de minimis rate, $0.466499, is the no-new-revenue M&O rate plus the rate that would raise $500,000 plus the debt rate.

Why there are separate votes. Local Government Code Section 102.007(c) requires a separate vote to ratify a property tax increase when a budget raises more property tax revenue than the previous year; that is Resolution 2026-34. Tax Code 26.05(b) requires the vote on the tax rate to be separate from the vote on the budget, and 26.05(a) says the rate's two components, debt and maintenance and operations, must each be approved separately. A rate above the no-new-revenue rate would need a record vote with at least 60 percent of the council in favor and the motion form Aledo's Aug. 20 motion used; tonight's rate does not exceed it.

What goes into the budget. The General Fund is $5,360,440 in revenue against $5,359,868 in expenditures. Its largest revenue lines are sales tax, $2,300,000, and the maintenance-and-operations property levy, $1,755,139.73, followed by the Planning & Development department's lines, $585,000, the Oncor electric franchise, $215,000, rental income, $173,000, municipal court, $170,600, interest, $75,000, and mixed beverage tax, $60,000; in this budget the sales tax line is larger than the maintenance-and-operations property tax line. On the spending side, Police is $2,417,062.65, which the Ledger computes at 45 percent of General Fund expenditures; then Administration, $725,464.32; Planning & Development, $609,482.05; Legislative, $427,886.26; Fire Marshal, $395,375.32; City Services, $316,000; Municipal Court, $258,597.46; Streets, $125,000; Parks, $95,000. The budget funds 41 positions. Outside the General Fund: Water, $3,961,915 in revenue and $3,894,154 in expenditures; Wastewater, $1,952,000 and $1,905,025; Drainage, $425,000 and $371,275; Hotel Occupancy Tax, $190,000 and $200,000, using $10,000 of fund balance. The debt side of the rate pays $2,671,364.12 in property-tax-supported debt service this year, of which the 2026 Tax Note for roads, $977,438, is the largest line; the debt rate rises from $0.225893 to $0.259929, while the M&O rate, $0.169112, sits above its no-new-revenue M&O level of $0.168435. The rate calculation uses a captured appraised value of $72,260,367 for TIRZ #1 (Wilks) and $0 for TIRZ #2 (Beall).

The Aug. 25 minutes record what the council heard from CPA Jake Weber: the budget is balanced; it carries a 3% pay increase for all staff and 5% for police department staff; attorney fees are budgeted at $350,000; the home-rule charter election's postage and mailing are figured at $50,000 to $75,000; a penny on the rate would generate an additional $98,000; adding $500,000 for road repairs would raise the rate by 12% or up to $0.47; and he would not be comfortable using more than $450,000 from reserves.

What it means for a homeowner. The agenda's Taxpayer Impact Statement estimates $1,796.77 last year on the $426,133 median homestead and $1,750.36 this year on $407,970, under either the no-new-revenue or the proposed rate. The packet's Property Tax Information page prints a different pair, $379,253 at $0.421646 for $1,599.11 and $392,206 at $0.429041 for $1,682.72; both sets are reported here as printed, and the Ledger cannot tell from the packet which median is current. Per the Aug. 25 minutes, Weber said citizens could see a decrease of $46.00 because some property values have gone down. Any one bill depends on its own appraised value. For comparison: Aledo adopted $0.352415 on Aug. 20; Parker County proposed $0.284719, which its notice identifies as the county's no-new-revenue rate, with the vote set for Sept. 22 at 9 a.m.; Aledo ISD adopted $1.1775.

What the record allows next. The council can adopt the budget and rate as proposed, adopt a lower rate, or go above the no-new-revenue rate only with the 60 percent record vote and motion language in Tax Code 26.05(b). State law requires a rate before the later of Sept. 30 or the 60th day after the certified roll is received. The Ledger's tax calculator leaves the Willow Park line blank until the rate is adopted; it will be filled from the adopted ordinance.

Read: The no-new-revenue rate, explained · Rates, values and levies by year · What will my 2026 bill be? · A typical Aledo home's 2026 taxes · Aledo's Aug. 20 budget and rate vote, from the minutes · Aledo's FY2027 budget tracker · What a TIRZ is · The Willow Park packet (budget at Item 6)

Source: City of Willow Park: City Council Meeting September 8th, 2026 Agenda, items 6 to 10; Agenda Packet, Item 6 (FY 2026-27 Adopted Budget: statutory cover page, Budget Overview, Property Tax Information, Debt Service and department schedules) and Item 2 (Aug. 25, 2026 minutes); Tax Code Sections 26.012, 26.04 and 26.05 and Local Government Code Sections 102.005 and 102.007 (text as of May 2025); Ledger report on the Aug. 20, 2026 Aledo council minutes; Ledger tax-rate pages. The Ledger did not review the Comptroller worksheets that begin on page 51 of the packet.

On the consent agenda: county jail and dispatch agreements for FY 2026-2027, with the jail per diem rising to $103.26 and the city's dispatch share at $126,240.01

Item 3 is an interlocal agreement with the Parker County Sheriff Office for jail services and item 4 an interlocal agreement for dispatch services, both for FY 2026-2027; item 5 is the holiday schedule for FY 2026-2027. The packet carries a letter from the sheriff's office dated March 30, 2026, which says the current rate of $97.70 a day for housing city prisoners in the county jail, $92.70 LaSalle contracted daily fee plus $5 facility fee, will increase to $103.26 on October 1, 2026. The dispatch agreement says the total minimum labor costs of one shared dispatch console manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for budget year 2025-2026 are $385,605.86, derived from an average dispatcher cost of $91,810.92 multiplied by 4.2; the city's share for fiscal year 2026-2027 is $126,240.01, payable quarterly at $31,560.00, at a multiplier of 1.375 dispatchers, rising to 1.5 dispatchers beginning fiscal year 2027-2028. Aledo's own arrangement is in the Sept. 3 council packet: the sheriff's overnight patrol contract at $18,030.50 a month, which Police Chief Carol Riddle's memo says can be ended on 30 days' notice once the department's own 24-hour coverage begins, expected in January 2027.

Read: Aledo's sheriff contract, from the Sept. 3 packet

Source: City of Willow Park: City Council Meeting September 8th, 2026 Agenda, items 3 to 5; Agenda Packet, Items 3 and 4; Ledger brief on the Aledo sheriff contract (Sept. 3 Aledo packet, pages 86-90)

Also on the Willow Park agenda: two voluntary annexations, a license-plate-camera ordinance, a comprehensive-plan committee and the home-rule charter election

Items 11 through 14 are public hearings and votes on the voluntary annexation of approximately 0.82 acres, Parker County Appraisal District Property ID #118980, and approximately 0.33 acres, Property ID #125053, both in the James Oxer Survey, Abstract Number 1029. The staff report says both are pieces of the 1.15-acre Willow Bend Court right-of-way, petitioned by Bar-Ko Land Company (0.82 acre) and Willow Park Services (0.33 acre) so it can be dedicated to the city by plat; the council accepted Bar-Ko's development agreement on March 10, 2026. Item 15 is listed as the appointment of the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee; the staff briefing sheet in the packet says the correct action is the creation of the Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee for the comprehensive plan update, with applications Sept. 9 through Sept. 18, council appointments Sept. 22, a first meeting Sept. 24 and a public workshop at City Hall Oct. 3. Item 16, listed with Councilmember Eric Contreras, is an ordinance adding Article 12.06, Automatic License Plate Recognition Cameras, to Chapter 12 of the city code; the draft in the packet says the city shall not operate an automatic license plate reader system, and shall not enter an agreement with a governmental entity to operate one, unless the agreement is for a temporary use of one hundred eighty (180) days or less and the entity uses the system only for five listed purposes, including detecting or investigating a criminal offense punishable as a felony and identifying or recovering a stolen motor vehicle, and it bars making captured plate data available to a person that is not a governmental entity or to the federal government. Item 17, listed with Mayor Teresa Palmer, is to set plans for information processes regarding the Election for Home Rule Charter. Under Mayor Comments, the agenda says Mayor Teresa Palmer will present a Proclamation to Freedom House to recognize October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Willow Park, and the city manager's comments list a National Night Out event on October 6, 2026 at The District of Willow Park.

Source: City of Willow Park: City Council Meeting September 8th, 2026 Agenda, items 1 and 11 to 22; Agenda Packet, Items 11 to 14 (staff report), Item 15 (briefing sheet) and Item 16 (draft ordinance)

Closed session: the Dean Ranch case, CV26-0175, is listed with the words Mediation Settlement Agreement; a second item lists City of Willow Park v. Halff & Associates

Executive session item 18, under Section 551.071, consultation with city attorney, reads City of Aledo, Texas and City of Fort Worth, Texas v. City of Willow Park, Texas, Beall-Dean Ranch and Parker County cause number: CV26-0175 in Parker County District Court, 43rd District; Mediation Settlement Agreement. The Aug. 25 agenda, reproduced in tonight's packet as item 20 of the minutes, listed the same case without those three words. Item 19 lists City of Willow Park v. Halff & Associates, Fort Worth Water Project. Two further closed-session items, 20 and 21, are listed under Section 551.071(2). The agenda says the council will reconvene into regular session to consider action, if any, on matters discussed in executive session.

How the case got here. The tract is 317 acres of the Dean Ranch at the southwest corner of Interstate 20 and FM 1187, along what The Community News called the main road into Aledo. On Feb. 11, 2025, Willow Park's council voted unanimously to annex it; the plans reported then were 35.3 acres of single-family, 91.7 acres of multifamily, 135.2 acres of commercial and 55.5 acres of light industrial, with an estimated value at full buildout of $500 million, and the city expected the development to roughly double its sales tax collections, per The Community News. The paper reported that Fort Worth had relinquished the property from its extraterritorial jurisdiction because it could not provide utilities. Since Sept. 1, 2023, Local Government Code Section 42.105 has let landowners petition out of a city's ETJ, and it says an area released that way may not be put in another city's ETJ or limits unless its owners ask.

A city's ETJ is the unincorporated area contiguous to its boundaries, one-half mile out for a city under 5,000 people and one mile for a city of 5,000 to 24,999 (Local Government Code 42.021), and it may not expand into area already in another city's ETJ except by written agreement between the cities (42.022). Fort Worth's council approved a resolution authorizing its city attorney to join Aledo's suit, the Fort Worth Report reported on Jan. 28, 2026; the Fort Worth staff report, as the Report described it, says Willow Park purported to move its ETJ boundary from Bankhead Highway at Nu Energy Drive to FM 1187 by a series of ordinances, that the northern portion of the Bankhead right-of-way is in Fort Worth's ETJ and the southern portion in Aledo's ETJ and city limits, that Aledo would seek a court declaration that the annexations were unlawful and void, and that Fort Worth expected filing fees under $2,500. The suit was filed in February in the 43rd District Court in Weatherford. Per the Weatherford Democrat, it challenges Willow Park's 2024 annexation of 321 acres and its February 2025 annexation of 7,313 feet of the Bankhead Highway, which the cities say was done to make the tract contiguous with Willow Park's limits; the cities asked Judge Craig Towson for a temporary restraining order halting infrastructure in the disputed area, to become a permanent injunction, and no money. Willow Park filed a general denial Feb. 18; a motion to disqualify its attorney, Andy Messer, was filed Feb. 20; developer Robert Beall joined on Willow Park's side. Letters attached to the petition refer to a boundary agreement Willow Park had proposed among the three cities; Aledo's attorney, Alicia Kreh, wrote that Fort Worth had declined that discussion and Aledo therefore declined it, and Fort Worth's letter said Willow Park had installed infrastructure along I-20 through Fort Worth's ETJ to serve the disputed property while the dispute was pending.

Since then: mediation had failed to produce a resolution as of The Real Deal's April 13 story, which also reported that Judge Towson was set to hear arguments on the restraining order and broader injunctions the following month; Willow Park's council approved the preliminary plat for roughly 317.7 acres on March 24, without making the plat public, while continuing utility work, per The Community News, and bidding had begun on a second phase of sewer service, per the Weatherford Democrat; Aledo's council voted June 4, after closed session, to add Parker County as a defendant, unanimous with Covington recusing, per the minutes; the county had posted Beall Dean Ranch Development incentive negotiations under Section 551.087 on Jan. 12 with no action, per its minutes; Aledo's council spent three hours in closed session on the Dean Ranch development on Aug. 10 and listed the case again Aug. 20. Tonight's Willow Park budget carries a TIRZ #2 (Beall) with $0 in captured appraised value. The Ledger has found no published ruling on the injunction.

What it means for Aledo and Fort Worth. As the Ledger's August brief put it, whichever city ends up with the tract sets its zoning, collects its sales tax, and decides whether the corner where the district's two arteries meet is built to Aledo's standards or Willow Park's. Fort Worth's stated interest, per its staff report, is the northern portion of the Bankhead right-of-way in its ETJ and, per its letter attached to the petition, the infrastructure Willow Park installed through that ETJ; Aledo's is the southern portion, inside its ETJ and city limits, and the tract's frontage on the road into town. What the plaintiffs asked for is a declaration that the annexations are void and a halt to infrastructure, not damages. What Willow Park has done meanwhile is plat the land and bid sewer work, and a reinvestment zone named Beall appears in tonight's budget with $0 in captured value.

What the record allows next, in no order the Ledger can rank. A mediated settlement: tonight's agenda lists one for attorney consultation, and any vote to approve one would have to come in open session, as the agenda's reconvene language says; Aledo's council has taken its votes in the case in open session after closed consultation, as it did June 4. A court ruling: a hearing on the injunction request was set, per The Real Deal in April; the Ledger has found no published ruling; and the underlying claim that the annexation ordinances are void is separate from the injunction request. Continued building: Willow Park's plat and sewer work proceed while the case is pending, which is what the cities' injunction request asks the court to stop. Aledo's council meets Sept. 17; its agenda had not been posted as of Sept. 6.

Read: Dean Ranch tracker · Every Dean Ranch mention in the record · The Ledger's August brief on the suit · June 4: Aledo adds Parker County as a defendant · Aug. 10: three hours in closed session · Jan. 12: the county's incentive item · Fort Worth Report, Jan. 28, 2026 · The Community News on the Feb. 11, 2025 annexation · The Community News on the March 24 plat · Weatherford Democrat on the filing (via Yahoo)

Where it stands: Aledo and Fort Worth's suit against Willow Park over the 320-acre Beall-Dean Ranch tract is pending in the 43rd District Court; no ruling on the injunction has been published.

Source: City of Willow Park: City Council Meeting September 8th, 2026 Agenda, items 18 to 21, and the Aug. 25 minutes in the Agenda Packet; The Community News, Feb. 12, 2025 and March 26, 2026; Fort Worth Report, Jan. 28, 2026; Weatherford Democrat, March 1 and March 26, 2026 (via Yahoo); The Real Deal, April 13, 2026 (search summary; the article could not be retrieved); Aledo council and Parker County minutes as written up in the Ledger's meeting reports; Local Government Code Sections 42.021, 42.022 and 42.105 (text as of May 2025); Agenda Packet Item 6, Property Tax Information page. The court's docket and filings were not reviewed; acreage in press accounts runs from 317 to 321.

Ross Fire holds at 57% containment in InciWeb's Sept. 7 update; Parker County stays under a burn ban, one of 207 counties

InciWeb's incident page lists the Ross Fire at 90,400 acres and 57% containment, and its latest daily update is dated Sept. 7. The Texas A&M Forest Service's county list, stamped 9/7/2026 12:30:38 PM, carries 207 counties under a burn ban, Parker among them along with Tarrant, Hood, Palo Pinto, Wise, Johnson, Jack, Erath, Somervell and Denton. InciWeb lists the fire's origin as Aug. 24 at 1:41 p.m., approximately 1 mile west of Palo Pinto, its cause, announced Sept. 2, as human-caused, equipment/vehicle use, and 515 personnel assigned as of Sept. 7. Under Local Government Code Section 352.081, a county burn-ban order covers the unincorporated area, may not run past the 90th day after adoption, and lapses when the Forest Service determines drought conditions no longer exist; knowingly violating one is a Class C misdemeanor.

Read: Parker County burn ban, live

Where it stands: 90,400 acres in Palo Pinto and Jack counties, 44% contained as of Sept. 5 per InciWeb, with an estimated containment date of Sept. 8; human-caused per the Forest Service. Parker County remains under a burn ban.

Source: InciWeb, Ross Fire incident page and daily update dated Sept. 7, 2026; Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas Burn Bans county list, 9/7/2026 12:30:38 PM; Local Government Code Section 352.081 (text as of May 2025)

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 6 p.m.: Willow Park City Council, City Hall, 120 El Chico Trl., Suite A

Budget and tax-rate hearings and votes, the jail and dispatch agreements, two annexation hearings, the license-plate-camera ordinance and the closed-session list above.

What you can do. To speak, complete a speaker form and turn it in to the City Secretary at least five minutes before the start of the meeting; comments are limited to five minutes per person.

Willow Park's council has been the other side of Aledo's annexation suit since February; watch the closed-session list for the case number CV26-0175.

Where it stands: Aledo and Fort Worth's suit against Willow Park over the 320-acre Beall-Dean Ranch tract is pending in the 43rd District Court; no ruling on the injunction has been published.

Source: City of Willow Park, City Council Meeting September 8th, 2026 Agenda; Willow Park Texas Meetings Hub

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m.: Annetta North Town Council, Annetta Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 2836 FM 5

Old business lists roads and bridges, the property on FM 5 at Annetta CenterPoint Road, an amended ordinance on the size of accessory buildings, re-zoning approximately eleven (11) lots along West Oak Drive East, West Oak Drive West and Rising Sun Road from R-1, 1 acre lots, to R-M, manufactured homes, and re-zoning approximately three (3) lots along Aledo River Rd., Lots 7, 8 & 9, Block A, Aledo River Phase I, from R-4, 4 acre lots, to R-2, 2 acre lots. New business lists removal of dead trees on Quail Ridge Road, an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan 2038 and the exchange of the FM 5 property.

What you can do. The agenda says this is an open meeting, open to the public; citizens' remarks on items of interest follow the call to order.

Source: Town of Annetta North, Regular Town Council Meeting Agenda, September 8, 2026

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: PCCC Membership Luncheon-UTA West & Weatherford College, New River Fellowship 3252 E I-20 Hudson Oaks, 76087

Source: per Parker County Chamber of Commerce

Friday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m.: Bearcats at Euless Trinity

What you can do. Kickoff 7 p.m.; the Ledger has the result Saturday morning per MaxPreps.

Aledo is 0-2, per MaxPreps; this is the last non-district game before the opener at Granbury on Sept. 18.

Where it stands: First season in Class 6A; 0-2 after the 26-0 loss at North Crowley and the 28-21 loss to Waco Midway, per MaxPreps. Sept. 11 at Euless Trinity, then district play opens Sept. 18 at Granbury.

Friday, Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.: Opening Night - The Promise's 38th Season, 777 Crown Pointe Blvd, Willow Park, TX 76087 Willow Park Baptist Church Auditorium

Source: per Parker County Chamber of Commerce

Sunday, Sept. 13, 7 a.m.: Walsh Lake Triathlon, Walsh Lake Park, 2401 Longspur (expected; confirm with the organizer)

What will my 2026 tax bill be? Enter your appraised value; every rate is linked to its source.

Every council, planning, EDC and school board meeting since August 2023, written from the minutes with the votes and the documents linked.