While tech billionaire Elon Musk has made headlines with the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) run on perceived waste in Washington, D.C., County Judge Tim O’Hare tells The Dallas Express that he has been doing the same thing in Tarrant County for years.
“My goal from day one was to create a culture in Tarrant County focused on government efficiency, responsible spending, and reducing waste. And that’s exactly what we’ve done,” O’Hare told DX.
Despite his title, O’Hare is not a judge in a black robe. Rather, he is the chief political executive of Tarrant County and leads the Commissioners Court. Together, they function like the mayor and city council of a county, setting policies for the County.
Since being elected in November 2022, O’Hare and the Court have taken aggressive action on the county tax and Hospital District tax rates.
Lowered Taxes
The tax cuts O’Hare cites came in the form of an increased homestead exemption and setting tax rates below the no-new-revenue rate.
The Commissioners Court passed a 10% homestead exemption for the 2024 fiscal year for both the County and the Hospital District, NBC 5 DFW reported in 2023. A homestead exemption excludes part of a taxpayer’s homestead value from taxation.
The Court then passed a policy setting the maximum homestead exemption allowed for counties and hospital districts at 20% for the 2025 budget in 2024.
“When I took office, Tarrant County was the only County of the six largest counties in Texas without any homestead exemption. Maximizing the homestead exemption was a critical step in providing real tax relief for Tarrant County homeowners, ” O’Hare explained.
The no-new-revenue rate entails some complicated calculations, but it is essentially based on a tax rate that would result in the same tax amount if applied to the same properties in the current year and the previous year. The no-new-revenue rate would generate the same total revenue for a taxing entity as the previous year, using the same properties and adjusting for changes in assessed values. It ensures that property owners pay the same amount in taxes overall, barring new construction or changes in exemptions.
O’Hare explained, “When we analyzed the tax rates set by the Commissioners Court over the past 30 years, we couldn’t find a single instance when the Court set the rates below the no-new-revenue rate. We were going to break the streak.”
The Court subsequently achieved this goal and reduced the tax rates for the County and the JPS Hospital District below their respective no-new-revenue rates in 2024 and again in 2025.
Decreased Budget
County spending is down, too.
O’Hare and the Commissioners Court decreased the budget for 2025 by over $50 million, O’Hare told WFAA. This followed a $8.1 million for the 2024 budget decrease.
The judge says he follows Ronald Reagan’s principle of “trust, but verify,” personally analyzing data and interviewing staff and county employees to gather information surrounding every budget decision.
O’Hare reflected on lessons he has learned while cutting waste and reducing the budget. He told the story of a well-meaning staff member, who is no longer in their position, who provided data on unfilled IT jobs and recommended reducing the unfilled positions for budget savings. The judge agreed on the cost-cutting measure and was assured this would be reflected in the 2024 budget. Over a year later, he says he learned that the staff member massively overstated the number of unfilled positions.
“I have been under the impression since August of 2023 that over 240 positions were removed from the IT Department that hadn’t been filled. I learned earlier this year after telling the story on a local TV interview that the information I was given was inaccurate. The number of unfilled positions removed from the budget was significantly lower. It is important when sharing information with the public, you must get it right. Lesson learned,” O’Hare stated.
While the number of eliminated jobs was much lower, Tarrant County eliminated many positions and passed the earlier reported cost-saving measures.
O’Hare regularly touts another accomplishment when speaking in public. “I encourage this sort of out-of-the-box thinking from Court members and staff. We are fortunate to have an outstanding County Administrator, Budget Director, and a majority of Court members who support real property tax relief and true fiscal responsibility. My hope is that we continue this in future budgets,” he commented.
O’Hare said the Court and staff ultimately discovered other areas where spending could be reduced, including correcting the overfunding of retirement contributions, which resulted in millions of dollars in savings. “I am committed to thorough review and verification to ensure Tarrant County spends taxpayer dollars wisely,” O’Hare told DX.
Reduced Waste
O’Hare says his Reagan-inspired approach also applies to budgeted county funds.
A key example is Tarrant’s updated travel policy for employees. As of August 2023, county employees on business trips can only book hotels that do not exceed the General Services Administration (GSA) rate, barring rare exceptions. They must also look for the most economical hotel parking option.
“The saying goes it is always easier to spend other peoples’ money. And the problem in government is too many government employees do not understand the gravity of spending taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars. Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be wasted on excessive hotel stays. Our revised travel policy ensures responsible spending, and taxpayers are seeing results,” stated O’Hare.
O’Hare contends that he is constantly looking for ways to go full “DOGE.”
One example he points to is the Court’s rejection of an election machine purchase called an Elevate Mail Sorter. The sorter cost $154,850 and O’Hare says the County would not have seen a return on the investment for decades. Election employees peel tabs off of mail-in ballots. He said proponents believed it would speed up the tab removal process, but according to O’Hare, not significantly enough when looking at the cost to the taxpayer.
Tarrant County used to pay over $50,000 for an annual salary survey to an outsourced consultant. The judge brought it in-house, saving the County $50,000 annually.
O’Hare and Commissioner Manny Ramirez led the charge to address the misuse of taxpayer funds by county staff who were taking advantage of technical loopholes to give unsubstantiated pay increases to certain court personnel. He said individuals from auxiliary positions were moved to regular positions for a period of 30 days to lock in pay increases. They were then returned to their auxiliary positions but would keep their pay raises. He recalled that this happened with nine people. When the Court discovered the situation, the Court ultimately eliminated a department head’s position and took additional measures to address the funds, which the judge says saved taxpayers nearly $175,000.
O’Hare personally reviews all capital improvement projects (projects regarding county facilities), which he claims has led to the stoppage of a $750,000 HVAC addition for a seldom-used county swimming pool and a nearly $230,000 remodel to a county building that would have been rented for $1,000 per month.
According to O’Hare, the Court additionally cut funding from a social program that did not share the values of Tarrant County taxpayers. The program had been funded for many years before O’Hare joined the Court. In one year alone, the program received nearly $800,000, which the Court has now eliminated.
O’Hare has two years remaining in his current term and intends to run for reelection to serve an additional four years.
“We’ve made significant strides, but we’re just getting started. We will continue to prioritize efficient government, transparent spending, and, most importantly, the taxpayers. I take spending taxpayer dollars seriously – as every elected official and government employee should. Government can function efficiently. It just takes work. We’re doing the work in Tarrant County.”