Fort Worth State of the Market

Betsy Price, a Fort Worth native, was elected in 2011 as the 44th mayor of the City of Fort Worth. In 2015, Price ran unopposed and was re-elected to a third two-year term. As the 16th largest city in the United States, Fort Worth remains one of the fastest growing large cities in the country. Along with her focus on promoting jobs, strengthening education, fighting crime and improving mobility, Price has made significant strides along the path toward her vision of a healthy, engaged and fiscally responsible city. A Healthy Community: Instead of sitting in cars, on the couch or in the office, Price believes in a community that naturally promotes physical activity throughout the day. During her first term, Price led a community effort to build a city that’s more fit, happy and productive. The result was FitWorth, a citywide initiative focused on promoting active lifestyles and healthy habits in both kids and adults. With an initial $250,000 grant from Oncor, FitWorth is working to stem the rising tide of obesity, especially in children. Thanks to FitWorth, employers, schools, hospitals, faith communities, non-profits and retailers are energized and actively promoting a more healthy and sustainable city. Building a healthy community is much more than promoting exercise and good nutrition. It’s also about designing a city that gives residents the opportunity to leave the car at home, opting for alternate modes of transportation. Under her leadership, Fort Worth has become a foremost cycling community, adding miles of new bike lanes and trails. Promoting pedestrian-friendly urban villages has also remained a staple of Price’s vision for rebuilding the city’s urban core. Moreover, she continues to push her long-term goal of linking neighborhoods and job centers with a comprehensive and convenient commuter rail system. An Engaged Public: As Price likes to say, “It’s Your Fort Worth.” She understands a city is nothing without an active and engaged citizenry. Shortly after being elected as mayor, Price made quick work of starting a movement to get young people more involved in driving local public policy. The response to her call to young adults was overwhelming. Within a matter of months, citizens under the age of 40 from across the city came together, set a charge and dubbed themselves SteerFW. The organization has grown to more than 300-strong, with various task forces tackling some of the cities toughest challenges. Thanks to today’s hectic and busy society, getting citizens—both young and old—involved in charting the course for their city requires more creative approaches to the typical town hall meeting. With that in mind, Price found several ways to promote grassroots government. Most notably, her Walking and Rolling Town Halls have broken the mold of that tired town hall meeting with a casual—and healthy—way for citizens to connect with city leaders. Price also understands the power of the Internet to bring communities together to seize opportunities and address challenges. In 2013, Price led the charge to launch YourFortWorth.org, the city’s first 24/7 online public forum allowing citizens to share and vote on new ideas to improve their city. A Fiscally Responsible City: A strong fiscal conservative, Price applied the skills she garnered as a business owner and from a decade of service as Tarrant County’s Tax Assessor to tightening the city’s belt. With a close eye on the bottom line, Price has been a consistent champion of using responsible and sustainable budget cuts to balance the city’s $1.2 billion budget. Additionally, Price and the City Council made bold changes to the city’s pension plan in 2012 to protect taxpayers and stabilize the fund for current and future retirees. Price also believes in the power of doing public good with private investment. Putting to good use her decades of experience building personal and professional bridges, Price matched generous benefactors with community needs to help the city with everything from health and fitness, to public engagement, to public pools, to animal adoptions and more. Price graduated from Arlington Heights High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. Since then, she has been an active mother and a leader in the Fort Worth community, serving on numerous boards, commissions and professional associations. After running her own successful business for 17 years, Price turned to public service, and was elected in 2000 to serve as Tarrant County’s Tax Assessor where she quickly made her department one of the most efficient in Texas, saving taxpayers millions of dollars. She has been married to Tom, an insurance agent, for more than 40 years and has three adult children, Kathryn, Phillip and Paul. In her spare time, Price is an avid cyclist and enjoys spending quality time with her three grandsons.