Debate on tax and spending cuts began Tuesday at Dallas City Hall, where City Manager TC Broadnax presented a proposed $4.6 billion budget, the largest in city history.
There were also warnings of the austerity measures that will be needed as the federal coronavirus relief money that has supported Dallas' budget for the past three years ends.
Some members suggested cutting this new budget to ease the pain of next year's deep cuts.
“We're going to continue to increase spending every year, but we're not going to start scaling back, we're just going to cut back even more,” said City Councilman Chad West.
Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland said councils now have options to reduce spending.
“We recommended what we thought was an appropriate level of service. What we fund is a policy decision,” Ireland said.
The time for discussion is short. A balanced budget must be approved before the new fiscal year begins on October 1st.
Public safety is the largest component of Dallas' budget. Police and firefighters are getting raises this year, and the city hopes to hire more officers. Currently, overtime pay is a major budget item for public safety because there are too few employees.
“We aim to be efficient in our police department. Obviously we have issues with staffing, but we have no choice but to be as efficient as possible,” said Police Chief Eddie Garcia. Ta.
Dallas residents said in the survey that public safety is their top priority, but fixing bad roads and sidewalks is also high on their priority list.
The city of Dallas is installing new air quality monitors to help combat pollution, especially in areas near industries.
However, environmental programs received poor ratings in surveys and received less money in the proposed budget.
Several members of the public opposed the cuts at Tuesday's meeting.
Rita Bebbing of Public Citizen said: “We need more environmental funding to help some of our most vulnerable communities.”
The budget proposal includes very small tax cuts. Even if the value is higher, most property owners will end up paying higher taxes.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in his inaugural address at the start of his second term in June that he wants big tax cuts that will lead to lower taxes.
Mr Johnson led Tuesday's meeting, but left all comments to council members.
“We are disappointed that the proposed tax rate is not a very significant reduction,” Councilwoman Carla Mendelsohn said.
Budget managers claim the situation will be even worse next year.
“We have been talking to all departments about the way forward. Things are going to get tougher,” Ireland said.
City Manager TC Broadnax said Dallas city government is working on a number of strategies to reduce spending.
“By continuing to use new technology to improve efficiency, we are able to look at our department every year and figure out what we can do better and smarter, or what we should stop doing. '' Broadnax said.
But the discussion also turned to familiar dreams about how Dallas could raise more money for what residents want.
“My constituents want everything, right? Like everyone does. They want public safety, cultural facilities, good libraries, good roads, sidewalk connections. , they don't want their taxes to continue to increase,” West said.
He is pushing for high-density development on vacant land in Dallas, building up to three small housing units on a lot that would normally only have one.
Earlier this year, Dallas topped a national report with the most vacant land available for new development.
This location is most prevalent in south Dallas and has always struggled to attract new development to the north and Dallas suburbs.
As many past Dallas leaders have said, Broadnax said Tuesday that local economic development is key to expanding the tax base.
“There is an opportunity for new growth and investment in the south part of the city related to vacant land and to change the way we think about investment in the south part of the city,” Broadnax said.
Citizens will have many opportunities to have their voices heard at the City Hall budget meeting ahead of the City Council's final vote on the new budget on September 20th.
