Dallas Mayor Pleads With Council to Turn The Ship Around as Property Tax Ceiling is Set Wednesday
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Despite pleas from Mayor Eric Johnson and District 12 Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, the Dallas City Council set the property tax ceiling — the highest possible rate that can be adopted — at 73.93 cents per $100 assessed valuation, as proposed by City Manager T.C. Broadnax.
The council will vote on the tax rate and budget Sept. 20 and can still set a lower property tax rate but can’t go any higher than the ceiling established Wednesday.
Broadnax’s proposed $4.63 billion budget is unacceptable, and the property tax rate should offer more relief, Mendelsohn argued in a memo to Mayor Johnson last week and in an opinion column published in The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday.
Mendelsohn proposed a “no new revenue” plan that rolls back department spending by cutting full-time equivalent positions that remain unfilled, department-wide budget cuts, and other proposed efficiencies. The initiative proposes slashing Broadnax’s budget by more than $100 million.
Johnson, who has said he wants to have the lowest property tax rate of a large city in North Texas, immediately backed Mendelsohn’s plan.
Tax Rate Ceiling Proposals
Johnson and Mendelsohn pleaded with the council to lower the tax ceiling to 68.38 cents per $100 assessed valuation — which would result in a property tax bill reduction of about $83.62 for the owner of a Dallas home at the median value.
Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland’s assumptions were based on homeowners having a homestead exemption. The median home value was $320,900 in Fiscal Year 2023. It went up to $334,710 for Fiscal Year 2024.
“Today’s vote is not about individual line items in the budget,” Mendelsohn said in Wednesday’s meeting. “It’s not about specific departments. It’s not about anyone’s district or citywide projects. It’s a decision that’s a policy statement on city spending and taxation.”
In a 10-4 vote, a majority of the council opted to go with District 7 Councilman Adam Bazaldua’s proposal to set the ceiling — not the actual tax rate — at 73.93 cents per $100 assessed valuation. If approved in September, that rate would represent a $64.99 increase in the tax bill of a homeowner with a property in the median value range.
We can always go down, and it sounds like there’s an appetite to go down. What I don’t want to do is set an arbitrary ceiling number that gives the discretion to city staff to then re-present a budget with cuts that we did not have our fingers on. That’s what this elected body is here to do. In fact, I think it’s the biggest task that we have as the elected body of the Dallas City Council.
District 7 Council Member Adam Bazaldua
Bazaldua suggested proposing amendments that make strategic and specific cuts to get to the desired property tax cut.
“I will personally commit to doing what it takes through this budget process so we can find something that not only provides relief but also is done diligently with all of our districts in mind and those services that will need to be impacted in consideration before we make those decisions,” he said.
An amendment proposed by District 13 Councilwoman Gay Donnell Wills to drop the ceiling to 73.58 cents per $100 assessed valuation would increase average tax bills by about $55.62.
“We have the opportunity to reset the starting gate from which our fiscal grit can kick in,” Willis said. “We’ve asked our city manager to come back to us with a revised budget. He’s the CEO of 42 departments, so we’ll get that new number. This in no way removes an amendment process. We’ll be able to examine what he comes back with … and then that process can begin, where council members can represent the priorities of their district. This city is unified around what our top priorities are.”
A Sinking Ship
Mayor Johnson pulled out his child’s toy ship and compared the city’s property tax situation to the Titanic headed for an iceberg.
He said his son asked him, in reference to the Titanic, why the ship’s captain didn’t just turn the ship around.
“I think the problem was that they didn’t see it in time,” Johnson said. “By the time they saw the iceberg, it was too late to turn the ship around … It’s a metaphor for the situation we face right now.”
Holding up the toy, Johnson said, “This is us.”
“This property tax situation that we’re in, it’s an iceberg,” Johnson said. “We can’t continue to tax people the way we’ve been taxing them and think they’re going to stay and continue to choose Dallas. That’s an iceberg. This is us, and we’re floating along. To me, of these options, only one of them represents turning this ship around and going the other direction.”
The options proposed by Bazaldua and Willis amount to moving deck chairs around on the ship, the mayor added.
“I’m going to support turning the ship around for the residents of Dallas and the taxpayers in the city,” he said. “I would recommend that we actually vote against my good friend Chairman Bazaldua’s motion … The least we can do is adopt the ‘no new revenue’ rate. Please, today, tell the city manager and tell his staff … to figure out a way to make all our equity goals doable with this pile of money.”
City of Dallas Property Tax Rate
Broadnax’s proposed tax rate of 73.93 cents per $100 assessed valuation is a slight decrease over last year’s 74.58 cents per $100 assessed valuation, but it’s not enough to provide real relief, council members said Wednesday.
“Dallas has an endless list of needs and opportunities to provide services, but the residents and businesses are limited on how much they can pay as a reasonable portion of their income and will pay, given the proximity to other cities in which to live and conduct business with substantially lower tax rates,” Mendelsohn said in her memo.
Belinda Epps, president of the MetroTex Association of Realtors, spoke in support of Mendelsohn’s motion on Wednesday.
“Adopting a no-new-revenue-based budget will provide substantial property tax relief for property owners,” she said. “Our ongoing concern is ensuring that property owners can continue to own property without the fear of being priced out of their homes due to continual rise in property tax liabilities.”
While council members agreed they want to lower the tax rate, some said they haven’t yet heard from residents at budget town hall meetings. There also was a debate over which city services could be cut in order to balance the budget and support a lower tax rate.
Proposed budget amendments from City Council members are due Friday and will be considered next week.
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Thank you.
Thanks to Ms. Towery for this level of reporting: not too cold (100K foot level), not too hot (in the weeds), but just right (read article above).
And thanks to Candy’s Dirt for publishing this type of information. We need it.
I’m with the mayor on this. Unfortunately my Council member proved to not be on the same page as Councilwoman Mendelson. Voting and in my district’s case, not voting, has consequences. There is coming a day when I’m moving out of Dallas. I’m sick of the crime, the filth (go down 75 and note all the trash), the broken sidewalks, the horrible roads in many locations, and most especially the congestion that will only be made worse, much worse, by all of the proposed multiplex, multi-family housing. And yet, my taxes continue to increase. No thanks. I’m not alone. I know of others who are ahead of me and ARE moving out.