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- Meetings of Interest: Sunday, September 24, 2023
Meetings of Interest: Sunday, September 24, 2023
Meetings of Interest: 💸 Tax Cut (?)*
Sunday, September 24, 2023
Good evening:
Months of budget hearings, town halls, memos, debates, and a mayoral speech with a toy boat culminated Wednesday with a 10-5 City Council vote in favor of a lower tax rate than what City Manager T.C. Broadnax originally proposed, but nowhere near what Mayor Eric L. Johnson said he wanted.
In addition to the mayor, Council members Cara Mendelsohn, Kathy Stewart, Gay Donnell Willis, and Paul Ridley voted against the $4.6 billion budget and a tax rate of 73.57 cents per $100 valuation, which is 1 cent less than the current year tax rate. It also marks the eighth consecutive year the City Council has lowered the property tax rate.
But because of skyrocketing property tax values and the fact that the City is one of many taxing entities, many homeowners across Dallas will still see increases in their year-over-year tax bills. In fact, state law won't even allow the City Council to call it a tax cut because it will generate more revenue than our current year tax rate.
Ridley, who represents a portion of Downtown, said that while he did not support "draconian cuts in city services that would be required to achieve a no-new-revenue tax rate, I do support cutting the budget in areas of particularly departments that have increased at unprecedented growth rates in the past five years."
He noted that he introduced 14 amendments in recent weeks to further reduce the tax rate. Only two passed.
Among the amendments that did pass and were incorporated into the budget:
Elimination of 147 positions that have been vacant for more than a year in order to lower the tax rate and provide funding for the Dallas police license plate readers and gunfire detection systems.
More than $600,000 in cuts to the city's Communications, Outreach, and Marketing department to fund additional street maintenance.
Elimination of a City Council mileage stipend.
As
, this budget was likely the last "easy" one for a while. Broadnax acknowledged to
The News
that leaner times are ahead. Some of the council members who voted against this budget said they were trying to get ahead of those lean years.
Read more about those amendments and more in
.
The new budget takes effect on Oct. 1.
Limited tickets remain for this Thursday's annual DDI State of Downtown. This year, we've got an incredible keynote panel including Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax, real estate executive Lucy Burns, and Housing Forward Board Chairman Peter S. Brodsky. Our keynote moderator is Grant S Moise, CEO of DallasNews Corporation and president and publisher of The Dallas Morning News. Purchase your tickets here.
📝 Memos of Interest:
-- The City has a new online dashboard to show how the mayor and city council members are spending $16 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The funds are earmarked for things like workforce development, senior home repair, eviction assistance programs, fentanyl awareness campaigns, mental health assistance, and more. Read more about it
. Check out the dashboard
.
-- Dallas Love Field airport has moved the location of its transportation-for-hire (Uber, Lyft, etc.) pickup zone. You better
, which includes a map, if you are traveling into Love any time soon.
-- The City will be issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to provide high-speed, affordable internet to unserved and underserved areas of the city.
.
-- Here's a
. From the memo: "The City has no intention of serving as an internet service provider. The City is committed to pursuing digital equity initiatives so that all households in Dallas will have high-speed, reliable internet, access to devices in their homes, and the knowledge and skills to navigate a digital world."
-- Check out all the latest City Hall memos
and
.
Meetings of Interest
Tuesday, September 26
🌆
Comprehensive Land Use Committee (CLUP), 8:30 a.m., L1FN Auditorium, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla Street
-- Committee members will continue review and discussion of the
. DDI President & CEO Jennifer Scripps is a member of the committee.
🚌 Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board, 1 p.m. Committee-of-the-Whole, 6 p.m. Board Meeting, Board Room, 1401 Pacific Ave., Dallas (Watch DART meetings live here)
-- The $1.8 billion fiscal 2024 budget and 20-year financial plan are up for approval. The financial plan no longer includes the proposed Downtown subway line known as D2, though officials say it could be brought back into the plans at a later date.
-- The board will also be briefed on an
. It includes different scenarios in which fares may be increased, decreased, or left alone, depending in part on direction from board members. The agency will gather public input on proposed fare changes later this year, with a vote expected in February 2024.
💳 Community Bond Task Force, 6 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
-- The task force will take public comment from registered speakers on how to allocate $1 billion for the 2024 bond program. Speaker signup has closed for this meeting. The task force is developing a recommended bond program to send to the City Council for consideration in December. The final package will go to voters for approval in May or November of next year.
Wednesday, September 27
🏛 City Council Meeting, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
--
and
are for issuance and sale of the first tranches of bonds for the Downtown convention center redevelopment and Cotton Bowl improvements at Fair Park. This is the first of the monies tied to the 2 percentage Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) increase approved by voters via Proposition A last year.
--
appears to be Dallas-Fire Rescue's long-awaited answer to RoboCop. The item authorizes the purchase of a $472,720 "firefighting robot vehicle" for Dallas Fire-Rescue that "will provide assistance to firefighters while combating fires from a remote location," according to background materials. The robot "has the ability to push vehicles from its path and the agility to climb stairs with an output of a maximum 2,500 gallons per minute."
--
is a $41 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) deal with Cabana Sycamore Development, Inc., for a mixed-income multi-family redevelopment of the historic former Cabana Motor Court Hotel in the Design District (rendering above). The proposed $116 million project would deliver 160 multi-family residential units, of which 64 will be "income-restricted" for 45 years. Notably, the Design District TIF District Board of Directors earlier this month voted 3-1 against the deal.
.
📃 Charter Review Commission, 6 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
-- This is the first meeting of the body that will make recommendations on potential changes to the City's governing document. Read more about the process and the commission members
.
Thursday, September 28
⚖ City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs, 10:15 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
-- The committee will be briefed on state and federal lobbyist contracts, and a proposed timeline for adoption of state and federal legislative priorities.
Quote of the Week
The Dallas Morning News editorial board on the five Downtown parks developed under leadership of Robert W. Decherd, chairman of the board of the Downtown Dallas Parks Conservancy (formerly Parks for Downtown Dallas).
"Our downtown is richer and more beautiful because of these parks, and they will endure thanks to the gift of time, imagination, determination and capital that Robert Decherd gave to make them a reality."
Did we miss anything? Do you have any questions? Just want to talk about meetings?
.
Were you forwarded this newsletter?
.
Have a great week.
Best,
Scott GoldsteinChief of External Affairs& Government RelationsDowntown Dallas, Inc.
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