NTTA FY2026 Budget Puts $1.39B System Revenue Behind $273.1M Operations

PLANO , The North Texas Tollway Authority’s FY2026 Final Budget plans about $1.39 billion in NTTA System revenues, including $1.31 billion from tolls, while budgeting $273.1 million for the Operation and Maintenance Fund that keeps lanes open and customers served.

NTTA does not collect property taxes. Tolls, service fees, and investment income fund the system. That makes the FY2026 book a pure fee-for-service ledger for drivers who use the Dallas North Tollway, President George Bush Turnpike, Chisholm Trail Parkway, 360 Tollway, and Sam Rayburn Tollway as North Texas keeps adding jobs and lane demand.

Revenue, transactions, and coverage

The executive summary in the FY2026 Final Budget states:

• Total estimated NTTA System revenues: $1.39 billion
• Toll revenues: $1.31 billion (TollTag $1.09 billion / ZipCash $215.5 million)
• Other income (late fees, statement fees, miscellaneous): $28.3 million
• Investment income: $50.0 million
• Estimated system toll transactions: 991.4 million (plus 233.0 million on Tolling Service Agreements)
• Budgeted toll revenues: up $62.1 million from FY2025 estimates

Total net debt service for FY2026 is estimated at $657.6 million. Estimated First Tier debt service coverage is 2.45 times, above the 1.35 times Trust Agreement requirement. Estimated coverage for all debt service, including Capital Improvement Fund-funded debt, is 1.69 times versus the required 1.00 times.

Operations, maintenance, and capital priorities

The Operation and Maintenance Fund is budgeted at $273.1 million, up $19.5 million or 7.7 percent from the FY2025 budget. The document ties the increase to volume-related costs, contractual adjustments, and inflation in labor and materials.

The Reserve Maintenance Fund is budgeted at $90.1 million for preventive maintenance of roadways, facilities, and equipment. The Capital Improvement Fund is budgeted at $386.3 million, up $38.3 million or 11.1 percent, for construction, repairs, and capital replacements.

FY2026 priorities called out in the executive summary include Dallas North Tollway expansion work, widening the south two lanes in each direction of Chisholm Trail Parkway, faster incident clearing, and reinforcing TollTag value. Total budgeted full-time employees are 924, with salaries and benefits budgeted at $87.1 million. The staffing summary also notes 5 part-time employees and 15 interns for a 944 headcount total.

Lane miles on the combined system have grown from 1,188 to 1,212 over five years. That is a modest footprint increase next to transaction growth that is already budgeted near a billion system trips.

The Enterprise Fund, which accounts for Tolling Service Agreements on managed lanes and other regional toll projects, shows FY2026 net cash flow budgeted at $19.6 million. Those agreements include work tied to LBJ Express, North Tarrant Express segments, and a regional TSA covering corridors such as the DFW Connector, IH-30, IH-35E, SH 114, SH 183, Loop 12, and LBJ East, plus NET RMA processing. Drivers see one TollTag. NTTA’s books still split system roads from partner roads.

Annual debt service remains close to $700 million a year until it begins to decline each year starting in 2038, with final payment assumed in 2048 if the region does not ask NTTA to debt-finance additional projects. Subordinated debt tied in part to Chisholm Trail Parkway and President George Bush Turnpike work is budgeted at $8.6 million. NTTA maintains a $100 million revolving note program with no outstanding notes under the program in the FY2026 narrative.

What DFW drivers and cities should watch

Related Never Late News transit and municipal finance coverage in the same North Texas cluster includes DCTA’s FY2026 operating and sales-tax plan, DART’s $1.4 billion budget, and Dallas’s $5.66 billion FY2026-27 city budget, and Fort Worth’s $3.33 billion budget path. Toll roads are not city general funds, but they sit in the same growth corridor households use to get to work. A higher ZipCash share raises the all-in cost of a trip for occasional users even when TollTag rates look stable on the board packet.

Watch CIF project schedules on the DNT and Chisholm Trail Parkway, TollTag versus ZipCash mix (ZipCash remains the higher-priced path), and whether transaction growth keeps covering the $657.6 million debt service stack without new tax-backed subsidies.

How Never Late News reported this

Never Late News based this report on the North Texas Tollway Authority FY2026 Final Budget PDF, including the Budget Executive Summary figures for system revenues ($1.39 billion), toll split (TollTag $1.09 billion / ZipCash $215.5 million), Operation and Maintenance Fund ($273.1 million), Reserve Maintenance Fund ($90.1 million), Capital Improvement Fund ($386.3 million), estimated 991.4 million system transactions, 924 FTEs, debt service ($657.6 million), and named priorities such as Dallas North Tollway expansion and Chisholm Trail Parkway south widening. Primary source: ntta.org FY2026 Final Budget PDF. Source file also retained in pack research as ntta-fy26.pdf. We did not invent board quotes or independently audit NTTA traffic counts for this draft.

Corrections and reader feedback

If you spot an error in revenue totals, fund budgets, or staffing figures, email editor@neverlatenews.com with the correction and a source link. Never Late News corrects factual mistakes promptly and notes substantive updates when NTTA revises budget materials.

About Never Late News: Never Late News is a US local and civic news site covering budgets, taxes, schools, housing, and public services with people-first reporting. This article carries the byline Ron M. Holiday.