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Dallas, Texas – In developing his recommended FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23 biennial budget, the City Manager considered how to deploy Responsible, Equitable, Accountable, and Legitimate (R.E.A.L.) Investments in Dallas to respond to immediate needs and prepare for the future.
The City received $355.4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and grant assistance through our local and state agencies. The City Manager has thoughtfully integrated these funds into areas where they will provide immediate relief, advance equity, capitalize on regional partnerships, and fuel results through bold resource investments.
“We are emerging from the global COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis,” said City Manager T.C. Broadnax.” “The economy is recovering faster than experts projected and the federal funds provided to the City are making it possible to provide a wide range of services to meet the needs of our residents and invest in our City’s future. This is an opportunity for us to come together as one Dallas to make R.E.A.L. investments and take R.E.A.L. action.”
The proposed budget for the first year of the biennial is $4.35 billion, and the planned budget for the second year is $4.26 billion.
“The FY 2021-22 budget includes $1.2 billion in total property tax revenue, $344.3 million in sales tax revenue, as well as fees to cover water, sanitation, and other services,” said Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Reich. “We are decreasing the tax rate for the sixth year in a row – by 0.3¢ - resulting in $4.6 million in foregone property tax revenue. For seniors, we have once again increased the over-65 property exemption to $107,000.”
Major investments for the proposed FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23 biennial budget include spurring economic growth by streamlining the building permitting process and providing excellent customer service, so residents and developers can focus on their projects.
Other investments include:
- Keeping Dallas, a safe, clean, and beautiful place to live by improving trash, recycling, and brush and bulky trash service delivery
- Incentivizing developers to build affordable housing ($10 million)
- Mitigating behavioral health crises to avoid unnecessary arrests and hospitalizations by doubling the number of RIGHT Care teams ($2 million)
- Hiring more police officers, raising pay for 911 operators and dispatchers, supplementing park security, and adding an ambulance
- Improving street conditions on nearly 1,700 lane miles, replacing 100 traffic signals, restriping lane markings in roadways, painting crosswalks, updated 1,000 school zone flashing beacons, and increasing our investment in bike lanes
- Contributing $25 million to an overall $72 million rapid rehousing program
- Extending water and sewer services to 46 occupied but unserved areas of the city – ($37.4 million)
- Bridging the digital divide in historically underserved areas of the city ($40 million)
The City is asking for feedback from residents about the proposed budget. Dallas City Council Members will hold 36 Budget Town Hall Meetings in the month of August, in a variety of formats: virtually, via tele-town hall and in-person. The full schedule of meetings and more information about how to participate are available at bit.ly/dallasbudgettownhall.
If you plan to attend one of the in-person meetings, please check the event calendar the day of and follow your Council Member’s social media channels for changes or updates.
To learn more about the proposed budget visit:
https://dallascityhall.com/departments/budget/financialtransparency/Pages/Upcoming-Budget.aspx
Also, to view the budget video, click one of the options which includes language access and closed captioning: bit.ly/cityofdallastv, YouTube.com/CityOfDallasCityHall or our cable channels.
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