Now that the city has approved its roughly $4 billion budget, both sides of the heated police funding debate appear unhappy with it.
The budget — which takes effect Oct. 1 after it passed by a 9-6 vote on Wednesday — contains more than half a billion dollars for police, about 14% of the total package.
But it also includes millions of dollars for programs that promise to improve public safety without police and gives a boost to those most in need.
Mayor Eric Johnson and his city council allies who voted against the budget strongly opposed the $7 million police overtime cut that was added in the process of approving what the city manager had proposed. They said no police money should be trimmed during a violent crime uptick and a volatile political atmosphere that has resulted in ongoing street demonstrations.
Activists and their supporters, by contrast, had demanded that $200 million be taken from the police department and spent on communities.
Ultimately, the council gave police $15 million more in the new budget, for a total of about $560 million. That number, however, includes money from outside sources like the feds and the state.
Yet there is more than $30 million for programs in the city budget to address public safety without necessarily involving the police, officials say.
Council member Adam Bazaldua, who voted for the budget, said in a statement that the city has long ignored data showing that communities with the most crime historically have received the least amount of funding.
“It is not a coincidence that the concentration of violent crime and/or gang activity does not exist in more affluent communities that have been heavily invested in,” he said.
City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s budget promises to “refocus” the police to protect people while also “promoting justice for all residents.” He said in his budget that police are asked to do too much.
The city budget office had not published a full accounting of the new fiscal year budget by Friday. That’s because several council members' amendments were passed right up until the final budget was approved late Wednesday.
Using city memos, council member statements, amendments and the original budget proposal, The Dallas Morning News is breaking down four main takeaways from this year’s budget:
Lower tax rate
The council reduced the property tax rate to 77.63 cents per $100 assessed valuation. It’s a tiny cut — a fraction of a cent — but it is the fifth year in a row that the rate has gone down, officials said.
The average resident will pay about $173 more due to higher property values as well as higher rates for water, sanitation and storm drainage services, according to the city. However, that will fluctuate based on a person’s tax exemptions and service usage.
Alternatives to policing
The budget includes money for the expansion of a pilot program called RIGHT Care that was started in 2018 to change how Dallas police respond to the 13,000 mental health crisis calls that emergency dispatch receives each year.
It will also fund a mobile crisis response team of social workers who are trained in de-escalation techniques to help residents with food, housing and transportation so police don’t have to be involved. The budget document called for 25 positions that will cost about $1.7 million for the first year.
To address root causes of crime, the city plans to spend $1 million to help those leaving prison get back on their feet through community-based services like job training and housing.
And police will be able to bring people struggling with substance abuse to a new sober center instead of to jail for public intoxication. The 11 case workers, plus changes to an existing facility, will cost about $650,000. Police make an average of 6,700 public intoxication arrests each year. About 21% of those arrested are homeless, officials say.
Civilian transition
One of the biggest changes coming to the police department will involve moving officers from desk jobs to patrol and replacing them with civilians so the agency can meet its response-time goals.
Police Chief U. Reneé Hall said on Wednesday that civilians currently make up about 14 percent of her force, while the standard is around 24 percent. She said she wants to boost that to 18 percent and has identified about 100 positions that can be staffed with civilians. The new budget contains money — cut from police overtime — to hire 95 civilians for the agency to do just that.
City officials also say they want to eventually close the Dallas police academy and outsource recruit training to the University of North Texas at Dallas. Council member Lee Kleinman has called the police academy a “bastion of intimidation and indoctrination.”
Another element of crime prevention calls for adding street lights in high-crime areas, and cleaning up vacant lots, abandoned properties and dilapidated structures. And money is in the new budget to hire three crews to mow overgrown lots and target illegal dumping.
Equity
Another big goal for Broadnax is equity, and his budget aims to give people “the resources and services” to thrive while attempting to reduce disparities in services for underserved communities.
The following initiatives are expected to be funded:
- A former Save-A-Lot grocery store in southern Dallas that is failing. The city plans to contract with charities to come up with an alternative food delivery service in a food desert.
- Solar panels for low- and moderate-income homes.
- Water and wastewater improvements to unserved areas will see about $2.9 million annually within the next decade. The city last identified 62 areas last year that were without water and/or wastewater service.
- 2,100 Wi-Fi hotspots will be added to libraries to bring internet access to different areas of the city to bridge the digital divide.
- Multimedia studio at Fair Park will be launched to broadcast a Spanish-language city TV channel and various city programming, including important information during emergencies.
- A minimum wage increase to $14 per hour for city employees.
