Ensuring police officers and firefighters can respond when needed is among the most critical responsibilities of any municipality and a top priority of residents, according to surveys.
So it’s not surprising that public safety — funding police and fire departments — takes up a large share of municipal budgets.
Dallas, Highland Park, and University Park have either recently approved or are in the process of adopting their budgets for fiscal year 2027.
Dallas reserved more than two-thirds of its general fund for public safety in fiscal year 2026. When this article went to press, the city expected to spend about the same proportion of funding on public safety in FY 2027.
For fiscal years 2026 and 2027, that puts Dallas’ public safety spending at about $1,000 per person for each of its 1.3 million residents.
University Park approved a 2027 budget on Aug. 17 that dedicates $24,286,396 to public safety spending. With a population of just over 25,000, public safety spending per resident will come to $948.
This is an increase from fiscal year 2026, when $21,829,830 was dedicated to public safety. That put public safety spending per resident at $852.
University Park voters will go to the polls Nov. 3 to weigh in on whether to raise the city’s tax rate to 22.0055 cents per $100 assessed valuation. If approved, the proposed increase would raise an additional $1,459,476 for four police officers, a patrol vehicle, and two firefighters, reduce the fire department’s pension vesting period from 20 to 10 years, and finance residential parking enforcement technology.
In contrast to Dallas and University Park, the Town of Highland Park uses a Department of Public Safety model combining police, fire, and emergency and non-emergency communications center (dispatch) into a single organization.
In fiscal year 2026, the town budgeted $18,514,428 for its collective public safety expenses. That put spending per resident at $2,113.
On Sept. 1, the town council approved a FY 2027 budget that directed $19,756,603 to the department of public safety general fund, or about $2,254 for each of the town’s 8,764 residents.
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