Councilwoman Blackmon Playing Budget Jenga to Help Save Skillman Southwestern Library
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The Dallas City Council is poised to adopt a $4.97 billion budget this month, and elected officials introduced amendments Wednesday to set priorities that were not included in the city manager’s original proposal.
District 9 Councilwoman Paula Blackmon, who represents White Rock Lake and East Dallas, asked to reduce the Office of Economic Development’s transfer to the infrastructure investment fund by $485,486 to keep the Skillman Southwestern Library open 53 hours a week, six days a week, and fund nine library staff positions.
While the amendment to “save the library” was popular among Blackmon’s constituents, the facility at 5707 Skillman St. was slashed from Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert’s proposed budget because it has not performed well.
“I want to thank [Interim] City Manager Kim Tolbert for presenting us with a balanced budget. It is Jenga,” Blackmon said, referring to the block-stacking game. “Literally, you could pull one and it could all fall apart. I realize that you had to make tough decisions and I think the community realizes that as well.”
In recent weeks, dozens of residents have supported the library at town hall and City Council meetings, Blackmon said.
“There are many people who do love this library,” she said.
Council members Jesse Moreno and Gay Donnell Willis said they support libraries but were concerned about taking money out of an infrastructure fund to keep a low-performing library open. There are other libraries close by that residents can use, Willis said. The infrastructure fund is desperately needed to offset development costs for housing and economic development opportunities that grow the tax base, the councilwoman added.
In a non-binding straw vote, the amendment moved forward.
The budget is set for final approval on Sept. 18. Read an Aug. 30 memorandum on the proposed budget from Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland or watch Wednesday’s Dallas City Council meeting.
Other Budget Amendments
In a straw vote, council members supported Tolbert’s proposal to reallocate and reprogram American Rescue Plan Act interest earnings and Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement funds to increase the investment in street maintenance by $5.8 million. The funds will allow for maintenance of 710 lane miles rather than 676.
Councilman Chad West introduced an amendment asking to remove an annual expenditure of at least $512,000 for the City-owned Bullington Truck Terminal and leased pedestrian tunnel at Thanks-Giving Square. The councilman said those dollars should be moved into the City’s general fund as a reserve because no one at the city knows what they are paying for or whom they are paying.
West pointed out that he’s been asking city staff for weeks about the contracts, and clear answers have not been provided.
West discovered the expenditures while digging into City-owned and leased real estate as chair of the Government Performance and Financial Management Committee.
“It was not reported correctly to the committee and it took close to a month for me to get the correct information,” West said. “That’s why we’re here today. In the last 24 hours, I’ve heard several different answers on who we’re leasing the property from, what exactly we’re leasing, and how much the lease is for. It’s changed three or four times.”
The lease agreement was entered in 1972 through the Park and Recreation Department in the amount of $65,000 and has since changed, which created confusion, said Interim Assistant City Manager Donzell Gipson.
Councilwoman Jaynie Schultz questioned slashing an item from the budget that could be taking contractually obligated money from the nonprofit Thanks-Giving Square Foundation.
“There’s so much confusion around this,” she said. “What I would rather do rather than a one-off … is that we not do this but that we do exactly what the chair of GPFM suggested that we do, which is review all of our leases.”
In a straw vote, the amendment moved forward.
“Every dollar matters to our taxpayers, and we’ve got to be good stewards of that money,” West said. “This is exactly why we need to comb through every real estate item that we have in the city to see where we’re bleeding money.”
Budget and Tax Rate
Tolbert’s budget represents a 7.4% increase over the current fiscal year’s budget, significantly impacted by a $1.25 billion bond program approved by voters in May, CFO Ireland has said. About $250 million from the bond will be allocated annually over a five-year period.
The City Council also will vote later this month on the largest single-year property tax reduction in modern history, a decrease from 73.57 cents to 70.47 cents per $100 assessed valuation. That doesn’t necessarily mean your tax bill will go down since the calculation is based on appraised values, which are consistently on the rise.
For the sixth time since 2017, Dallas has increased the property tax exemption for residents who are age 65 and over or living with a disability, from $139,400 to $153,400.
Several council members on Wednesday thanked Tolbert for presenting a balanced budget that did not require several amendments and fighting over pet projects.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua noted that just three amendments were proposed on a day that in years past would have council members at the horseshoe until late in the evening. Wednesday’s meeting wrapped up at around 5 p.m.
“I think it speaks volumes to … how thoughtful what we have proposed to us is,” Bazaldua said. “This could have been a nightmare.”
