From the cover
Dallas adopts its largest budget
BY CECILIA LENZEN
City of Dallas budget The FY 2023-24 budget is the largest budget Dallas City Council has ever adopted. Here is how the operating budget, which includes $3.83 billion, is allocated.
The breakdown
The overview
The budget includes a general fund, which the city uses for things like code compliance, libraries and parks. Property tax revenue accounts for 57% of the general fund, according to a city news release. The budget includes eight focus areas: • Economic development • Environment and sustainability • Government performance and nancial management • Housing and homelessness solutions • Public safety • Quality of life, arts and culture • Transportation and infrastructure • Workforce, education and equity Public safety was a priority, with funding allocated to hire 250 police o cers, o er retention incentives, hire 100 re ghters, and increase overtime for both the police and re departments.
In mid-August, Johnson instructed City Manager T.C. Broadnax to revise his original budget recommendation to lower the initial tax rate proposal of $0.7393 per $100 valuation and lobbied for a lower rate throughout the budget adoption process. The adopted tax rate is $0.0101 lower than the previous scal year’s rate. This is the eighth year in a row Dallas’ property tax rate has decreased.
Development services: $53.9M Dallas Water Utilities - storm drainage management: $80M
Convention and event services: $137M
Sanitation services: $153M
Additional resources: $166M
Aviation: $184M
Dallas property tax rates From FY 2015-16 to FY 2023-24, The city of Dallas’ property tax rate has decreased by 6.13 cents.
Debt service: $420M
Dallas water utilities: $791M
General fund: $1.84B
property tax rate (per $100 valuation)
0.7357¢
2016 -17 2017 -18 2018 -19 2019 -20 2020 -21 2021 -22 2022 -23 2023 -24
SOURCE: CITY OF DALLAS COMMUNITY IMPACT
What they’re saying
“Property owners who are seeing in- creases in their taxes are passing that increase along to their tenants. It’s making housing more ex- pensive … and it is potentially driving people out of Dallas.”
“I will be supporting this because I feel that if you vote against it, you voted
against the additional 250 [police] o cers. Every item in [the budget], you either support it or you don’t.” PAULA BLACKMON, CITY COUNCIL MEMBER
2015 -16
0.797¢
0¢
0.2¢ 0.4¢
0.6¢ 0.8¢ 1¢
PAUL RIDLEY, CITY COUNCIL MEMBER
SOURCE: CITY OF DALLAS COMMUNITY IMPACT
What else?
General fund priority areas
city department a funding increase, went into e ect Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30, 2024. “We could have done a better job for our residents. We really could have,” said City Council Member Kathy Stewart, who represents Lake Highlands and voted against the budget adoption. “But I also say it’s a good budget because of the kind of work that I know will get done next year because of [these allocations].”
Among its new funding priorities, City Council also allocated $1.4 million to create a short-term rental registration program and inspection team, following its decision in June to ban most short-term rentals from the city. Fifteen Dallas Public Library locations will expand operations to six days per week due to a $3.1 million allocation. The new budget, which gave nearly every
$151.7M for public works projects
$9.5M for parks and trails
$1.7M for senior home repair program
SOURCE: CITY OF DALLAS COMMUNITY IMPACT
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