New pavement was recently installed along a stretch of road in Hockaday Square as part of the City of Dallas Street Maintenance Program.
Residents along the newly paved street reported that the project was handled efficiently by city crews and the construction caused minimal disruption.
The improvements, including plans for repaving 750 street lane miles, are part of the city’s recently released biennial budgets.
The initiative is called “Investing in Priority Programs and People.”
“This year we began implementing Phase I of our new budgeting process known as Priority Based Budgeting, which aligns resource allocation with resident priorities,” said City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert.
Key objectives were identified in a community survey — the improvement of city streets was a top concern, along with police service, traffic management, housing, and social services, reported Tolbert.
“We looked at the top priorities identified by residents in the annual community survey,” she said. “We incorporated their feedback, as well as the City Council’s.”
For Fiscal Years (FY) 2025-26, the City’s operating and capital budget totals $5.2 billion compared to the $4.97 billion total budget for the current year. Of that total, the General Fund is $1.97 billion, which represents an additional $61.6 million or 3.2% more than last year — almost all of which has gone into the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Fire-Rescue budgets, said 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, Tolbert reported, adding that the FY 2025-26 budget recommends increasing starting compensation for police officers to $81,232, one of the highest within the region.
City officials faced several challenges preparing the proposed budget, she said, 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 the challenges, city officials reported balancing the proposed budget while simultaneously reducing the property tax rate from 70.47 cents to 69.97 cents per $100 valuation.
While taxpayers might welcome the slight decrease in the property tax rate, with the budget’s Street Maintenance Program jumping from $125 million to $162 million, drivers are keen to learn whether an extra $37 million will result in smoother commutes.
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