City Hall Roundup: Budget Bright Spots, So Long Rainbow Crosswalks, Water Bills
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Well, Spring Break is over at Dallas City Hall, and your elected officials will be back to the regular grind of what’s shaping up to be a wild, high-stakes year of tough decisions.
From what to do with 1500 Marilla St. to how to overhaul the public library system, officials have a lot to consider as we head into budget season. I hope everyone enjoyed their little bit of spring as the heat starts to literally and figuratively ratchet up.
Anyway, here are some lower-key highlights to be aware of:
Budget Accountability Report Shows Some Savings This Fiscal Year
In a rare bright spot for Dallas’ municipal finances, the city’s latest Budget Accountability Report update states that the Planning & Development Department is realizing revenues 9% above budget. Additionally, Bond & Construction Management expenses are apparently coming in 7% under budget.
According to the report, which has tracked revenues and spending through January 2026, PDD is on track to exceed projections by roughly $4.87 million due to increased demand for inspection and permitting services related to commercial construction projects. Expenses are also tracking higher than budgeted, but only by $930,000. This is in part due to some retirement payouts among staff.
Staffing at BCM is why its operations are coming under budget, with some 41 positions going vacant for a savings of $1.79 million, according to the report.
Every little development pushing Dallas toward the green is no doubt welcome as the city braces for another budget season that’s expected to force more hard decisions amid unreliable sales tax revenues and several years of property tax relief. There is also, of course, the public safety spending commitments required by the controversial HERO amendments to the city charter.
Spring budget town hall meetings are being held this week, offering residents an opportunity to voice their preferred spending priorities for FY 2026-2027 to their respective council members.
The city council will also be holding public hearings on the upcoming budget starting next month, with dates tentatively set for April 8, May 27, and August 25. Council members will vote this week to authorize hearings for those dates. We’ll keep you posted if those dates are changed.
City To Move Ahead With Removing Rainbow Crosswalks, Other Expressive Designs on Roadways
Dallas officials are moving to come into compliance with a state-mandated directive ordering the removal of decorative crosswalks.
By order of Gov. Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Transportation threatened last October to suspend contracts with and withhold state and federal funds from local jurisdictions that maintained nonstandard pavement markings — such as rainbow and Black Lives Matter designs in Oak Lawn and other parts of the city.
The city sought an exemption to preserve some of its installations, but that request was denied earlier this year.
In a memo, the city said it submitted a compliance plan committing to redesign 30 crosswalks within 90 days. Work is set to begin on March 23, with crews coordinating efforts alongside planned roadway improvements, including resurfacing work in Oak Lawn. Officials expect removal and replacement to be substantially completed by late April.
“The Office of Arts and Culture is reviewing peer-city approaches to determine alternatives to pavement markings and developing guidance for how public art may be incorporated in the right-of-way going forward,” staff said. “Dialogue with community stakeholders has begun and the Office of Arts and Culture will host three in-person community engagement sessions to gain additional insights about neighborhood identity.”
City leaders previously criticized the TxDOT directive as a political stunt meant to suppress municipal support for the LGBTQ community and other expressions of civic speech.
Water Bill Payment System Will Be Offline for More Than Half of May
Dallas residents used to paying their water bill online need to be on the lookout for a planned outage lasting almost three weeks in May.
The city is preparing to roll out a major upgrade to its water billing system, which is aimed at modernizing the process and integrating with the city’s DallasGo online payment platform. The new system is set to launch on May 18, and it will include new features such as real-time account balances, expanded self-service tools, and online enrollment for payment plans.
Unfortunately, the upgrade process will require the existing system to go offline from May 1 through May 17. This means customers will not be able to access their accounts or receive paper bills in the mail. Phone payments will also be suspended.
Residents will still be able to pay their bills by mail, at authorized payment locations, or in person at Dallas City Hall. In-person payments will be limited to cash, check, or money order during this period. Once the upgraded system goes live, standard payment options will resume. Those with an existing DallasGo account or AutoPay will need to re-enroll in both.
“A public education campaign has been undertaken to prepare customers for the new billing software system upgrade and to provide customers with instructions for accessing their DallasGo profile and re-enrolling in AutoPay after implementation,” staff said in a memo.
Water service will not be disconnected during the transition period.
The city has been working to modernize many of its systems. DallasNow, for instance, which came online last May, was created to provide digital access to the city’s permitting, planning, platting, inspections, and engineering systems. Most of that previously had to be accessed in person, leading to significant delays and frustrations among members of the development community.
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Confused.
If paper billing will be suspended, how can you mail your payment without the necessary paper billing info???
Phone payment also suspended. So the alternative is paying at city hall or finding another place that takes the payment, if we know how much it is???
Guessing they will receive a lot of late payments. How convenient for them.
Are we speaking of the monthly water bill that has an ILLEGAL Environmental Clean Up Fee? That $3.00 monthly fee that collects $10,000,000 annually will ultimately have to be paid back since its violating about 4 State of Texas laws. Another gaping hole in this budget, city management just doesn’t know it yet. You see Utility bills are supposed to have utility related ONLY items on them. This was a was around a tax ceiling imposed by the State but since this city has never seen a law its not willing to violate WE PAY MORE.
Seriously, 3 weeks to roll out an upgrade! During which we don’t have access to our accounts and have to re-enroll in DallasGo and auto pay. Absurd.
The city never should have accepted this ridiculous transition plan. The software development and rollout certainly do not consider the customer!
Hope the system is better than the transition plan. Seriously!