Biennial budgets for Fiscal Years (FY) 2025-26 and 2026-27, focused on Investing in Priority Programs and People, were released by Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert to the Mayor and City Council on Friday, Aug. 8.
The FY 2025-26 total operating and capital budget totals $5.2 billion compared to the total budget for the current year which totals $4.97 billion. Of that total, the General Fund is $1.97 billion, which represents an additional $61.6M or 3.2% more than last year — almost all of which has gone into the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Fire-Rescue budgets, Tolbert reported.
According to a Dallas community survey, police service is one of the top priorities for the Dallas residents along with street and infrastructure improvements, traffic management, housing, and social services, reported Tolbert.
“This year we began implementing Phase I of our new budgeting process known as Priority Based Budgeting, which aligns resource allocation with resident priorities,” she said. “We looked at the top priorities identified by residents in the annual community survey. We incorporated their feedback, as well as the City Council’s.”
City officials faced a number of challenges preparing the proposed budget, including the rising cost of doing business, the limitations that have been imposed by the State’s 3.5% property tax revenue cap, the City’s lower than projected sales tax revenue, and the fact that property value growth has slowed. Despite those challenges, Dallas officials balanced the proposed budget while simultaneously reducing the property tax rate from 70.47 cents to 69.97 cents per $100 valuation, reported Tolbert.
Budget highlights include hiring 350 police recruits and retaining seasoned officers with a goal of ending FY 2025-26 with 3,424 officers, the highest number since 2016. By the end of FY 2026-27, the goal is to have 3,634 sworn officers, said Tolbert. The FY 2025-26 budget recommends increasing starting compensation for police officers to $81,232, one of the highest within the region while maintaining parity for City firefighters. The budget also includes contributions to the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System (DPFPS) in compliance with the funding plan approved by the City Council on Sept. 11, 2024, and moving forward with plans to build a new Dallas Police academy at the University of North Texas-Dallas.
The FY 2024-25 budget for the total street maintenance program was approximately $125 million to improve 710 street lane miles. The FY 2025-26 budget increases this investment to $162 million to improve 750 street lane miles.
The City also plans to continue with strategies to end street homelessness across the city, including accelerated diversion and rehousing from shelters, to prevent street sleeping, with a $10 million investment to move more people inside and prevent overflow into the streets.
The City is asking for feedback from residents about the proposed budget. The Dallas City Council will hold virtual and in-person budget town hall meetings in the month of August. A citywide Tele-Town Hall meeting will be held on Saturday, Aug. 16 at 10 a.m. Registration can be accessed at https://tthm.wufoo.com/forms/city-of-dallas-teletownhall-registration/.
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