Dallas City Council Adopts $4.89 Billion Budget Despite Five Votes in Opposition
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The Dallas City Council on Wednesday adopted a $4.89 billion budget based on a property tax rate of 73.57 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
Mayor Eric Johnson reminded the council he was elected to serve the entire city and said for that reason he could not support the budget. Council members Cara Mendelsohn, Paul Ridley, Gay Donnell Willis, and Kathy Stewart joined him in voting against it.
“The idea that we should lower the tax burden on Dallas residents — not lower an imaginary number or rate, a variable and a calculation — didn’t just come to me from nowhere,” Johnson said. “It came to me from the residents of the City of Dallas. It’s actually what the residents want. It’s what they need. Interest rates are a real thing. Inflation is a real thing. It’s also about the competitiveness of the City of Dallas and other places people could be. That’s why I keep bringing it up and pushing it.”
The mayor added that data suggests the city’s “most economically challenged” are the people who are seeking tax relief.
“It’s African Americans and Latinos who are begging for property tax relief because it represents a larger portion of their income,” he said. “Services are very important. It’s why we’re here, but there does need to be an honest reckoning and coming to some understanding … about what we really think are the essential functions of city government.”
The votes were cast around 3:30 p.m. following a lengthy discussion and five last-minute proposed amendments.
All city budget documents can be viewed here. The council meeting discussion is also available to view in its entirety online.
The budget totals $4.6 billion including the General Fund, Enterprise Funds, and Capital Funds, City Manager T.C. Broadnax explained in a Sept. 22 memorandum. In addition to this, the budget ordinance approved on Sept. 20 included $247.9 million of appropriations for Internal Service Funds and the Employee Retirement Fund operation that are accounted for separately. The budget appropriation ordinance totaled $4.9 billion.
Council Members React to Adopted Budget
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold pleaded with council members to stick to the promises they made on the campaign trail: to continue offering core services and provide property tax relief.
“We’re the ninth largest city and of course, our budget should be going up,” she said. “Why would it go down when we’re attracting folks to come here daily?”
The council has an obligation to support city employees and the services they provide, Arnold added.
“It’s a good political statement when you say, ‘I’m about equity. We want to support the historically underserved,’” she said. “It’s good when you’re campaigning, but when you begin to put the dollars behind the programs, then folks start doing the moonwalk. You want to back it up. We’re not going to back it up … What we cannot do today is we cannot let our people down. The historically underserved communities need you. Let’s work through it. Let’s handle up on our business.”
District 1 Councilman Chad West was called on to make the motion for approval because he chairs the council’s Government Performance and Financial Management Committee.
“I am going to support this, obviously, but it’s with a heavy heart,” West said. “I think we’ve got a hard year ahead of us where we all have to sit down and not do this all right here next year but do it throughout the course of the year, where we re-evaluate the departments and our mission.”
Mendelsohn said the “teeny-tiny tax rate decrease” was nothing short of an 8 percent property tax increase due to residential and commercial value hikes.
“There are so many people on this council that care about housing affordability, but this vote will actually increase the rent for our tenants across the city,” Mendelsohn said. “It won’t be the landlords that are going to absorb the 8 percent tax increase. Renters, prepare yourselves.”
Councilman Omar Narvaez pointed out that the tax rate decrease wasn’t as significant as some wanted, but it does represent a one-cent drop over the current fiscal year.
“That’s part of compromise,” he said. “There’s no losers here. As our programs continue to grow and our staff is able to get stronger and implement more, the big winners are our residents … It wasn’t as Hunger Games as it typically is.”
Housing Advocates Rally at City Hall Prior to Council Meeting
Several speakers took advantage of the open microphone at Wednesday’s meeting to advocate for housing.
West Dallas resident Raul Reyes noted the Dallas Housing Coalition rally that took place at City Hall prior to the council meeting.
“Stable housing is the most critical issue to me and my neighbors because it serves as the foundation for familial stability, educational achievement, and economic growth,” Reyes said. “A home is more than just a shelter. It’s the cornerstone for opportunity and prosperity.”
Ashley Brundage of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, a founding member of the Dallas Housing Coalition, encouraged council members to prioritize housing not only in the biennial budget but the upcoming 2024 bond.
“We had a great rally out in front of City Hall this morning with over 100 people chanting their support for housing,” Brundage said. “As you vote on this year’s budget, which allocates less than 1 percent toward housing, we also want to point out that Dallas has yet to invest more than $6.3 million in bond funding toward housing since 2003. Dallas needs 100,000 new or refurbished affordable homes by 2033 to meet the housing demand.”
