Dallas City Council
Dallas City Council members submitted 63 amendments last week to City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s proposed $4.63 billion budget in an effort to provide more efficient services and further cut the property tax rate. Budget and tax rate adoption is set for Sept. 20. During Wednesday’s meeting, there were amendments to amendments, and the conversation got…
Dallas City Council members haggled over budget amendments Wednesday and even agreed on a few during a seven-hour briefing. The most significant of the six amendments, approved in a straw vote Wednesday, was submitted last minute by District 7 Councilman Adam Bazaldua and therefore was not included in the council agenda packet. Amendment 28A represents about…
If the City of Dallas has a backlog, should developers be able to hire their own inspector to review building permits? David Lehde, Dallas Builders Association director of government affairs, says he supports the city’s Development Services Department in its efforts to expedite permits, but new state legislation allowing developers to take matters into their…
Dallas Development Services appears to have overcome a bad reputation of delivering building permits in a slow, inefficient manner that costs builders money and backlogs the city’s housing availability — just in time for state legislation mandating that they need to move even faster. Members of the council’s Government Performance and Financial Management Committee and…
Despite the Texas Legislature’s ongoing work in Austin, many new state laws passed during the regular session will go into effect Sept. 1. Reports say that the Texas Legislature will convene a third time in October concerning school vouchers. The first two special sessions dealt with property taxes, also a hot-button local issue. In an Aug.…