The proposed City of Dallas budget won’t be unveiled until Aug. 8, but a 72-page Dallas City Council presentation is giving penny-pinching taxpayers plenty to digest in the interim.
Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland reviewed the 2023-24 and 2024-25 budget and responded to general questions during a June 21 briefing.
The City Council adopted a $4.75 billion budget in September 2022 and lowered the property tax rate for the seventh consecutive year. The council recesses during the month of July but will return for budget hearings in August and September. A new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
City leaders also are preparing for a 2024 bond election to address some much-needed infrastructure and capital projects.
Property Taxes
Ireland displayed several slides related to the property tax rate. The current rate is 74.58 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
The city’s CFO reminded elected officials that while preliminary values are estimated at $214.2 billion, they “erode as property owners protest their values.”
“We will get a certified value in July,” he said. “We won’t know what that final number is until the [Dallas Central] Appraisal District certifies it.”
On June 14, the City Council approved an increase in the homestead exemption from $115,500 to $139,400 for senior citizens and disabled persons, marking the fifth increase in the last seven years.
“That means that a senior citizen who has a homestead exemption and the over-65 exemption, if their property value is $174,250 or less, they would pay zero city property taxes,” Ireland said.
Dallas City Council Feedback
Personnel expenses account for about 70 percent of the general fund budget, said Director of Budget and Management Services Janette Weedon.
There are 15,900 budgeted positions across all departments. About 11,900 positions are paid for out of the general fund, with police and fire accounting for 50 percent.
The headcount of employees on the city payroll as of June 2023 is 13,415.
Council members talked about cost-of-living increases, a minimum wage increase, the pension fund deficit, and the necessity of overtime pay in understaffed public safety departments.
Members of the Dallas City Council have until June 30 to submit their top three priorities to City Manager T.C. Broadnax if they didn’t do so already at an April 5 strategic visioning retreat. Results of a community survey and community engagement sessions also will be incorporated into the budget process, Weedon said.
Council members were encouraged to hold budget town hall meetings in their respective districts.
District 12 Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn expressed concern that projections showed just $431 million proposed in sales tax revenue. Ireland explained that the proposed budget released in August would likely project $448 million.
“I’m concerned that we’re under-budgeting for this item, because every year we’re doing massive budget amendments,” Mendelsohn said. “It seems to be the place where we can throw in some special projects, in places where we’ve under-budgeted.”
A conversation should be had upfront about how to fund overtime pay in the police and fire departments, she added.
“Let’s do an accurate accounting of what we really need to pay instead of relying on a sales tax that we know is going to be higher than we budget for and just amending it that way,” she said.
District 3 Councilman Zarin Gracey inquired about proposed fee increases.
“If there is an increase in fees, I would like to see an increase in efficiencies alongside that to justify it,” he said. “Yes, this is because of the economy, fees, inflation, whatever, goes up, but here’s what we’re doing to try to offset some of that either through efficiencies in services or just reduced costs elsewhere.”
