City of Fort Worth

The City of Fort Worth operates as the municipal government for the city of Fort Worth, Texas, delivering a range of public services to residents and businesses within its jurisdiction. These services include public safety through the police and fire departments, water and wastewater management, solid waste collection, street maintenance, and parks and recreation programs. The city also oversees planning and development, issuing permits and enforcing building codes to guide growth. As a local government entity, it functions under the authority of Texas state law and the city charter.

Fort Worth’s governmental structure follows a council‑manager model, in which an elected city council sets policy and hires a professional city manager to administer day‑to‑day operations. This arrangement separates legislative functions from executive management, aiming to provide efficient and accountable service delivery. The city manager oversees various departments such as transportation, aviation, and the Fort Worth Water Department, each responsible for specific operational areas. This structure is intended to support coordinated responses to community needs and infrastructure challenges.

In June 2023, the city experienced a cybersecurity incident in which threat actors gained unauthorized access to an internal system used for managing maintenance work orders. The attackers exfiltrated work order attachments, photos, spreadsheets, and internal emails, posting the data online as part of a political statement. City officials confirmed that the breach did not affect the public‑facing website and that there was no evidence of access to sensitive resident, business, or employee information. In response, the city instituted forced password resets and launched an investigation with law enforcement agencies.

The City of Fort Worth is a municipal corporation, meaning it is not owned by a private parent company nor does it have subsidiaries in the corporate sense; it is a standalone governmental entity funded primarily through local taxes, fees, and state allocations. Its powers and responsibilities are defined by the Texas Local Government Code and the city’s own charter, which outlines the scope of its authority. As a home‑rule city, Fort Worth possesses the ability to adopt its own regulations on matters not preempted by state law. This legal framework enables the city to tailor services and ordinances to the specific needs of its community.