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Dallas responds to suburban push to contribute less money to DART

The support is part of Dallas’ list of priorities for the upcoming state Legislature and runs counter to six other North Texas cities that want to cut sales tax contributions

Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s largest member says it won’t support stripping any money away from the regional agency during the 2025 Texas legislative session despite nearly half of the other cities pushing to cut their sales tax contributions.

When approving a series of legislative priorities, the Dallas City Council on Tuesday agreed to advocate for tax collections from DART’s 13 service cities to remain the same. City officials from around North Texas are arguing their residents don’t have enough bus and rail service to justify the agency getting taxpayer funding at the same rate. The cities contributed around $870 million in combined sales tax revenue in the most recent fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, with around half coming from Dallas. DART estimates getting around $910 million this fiscal year.

The DART Board approved a $1.8 billion budget on Sept. 26. Other sources of revenue include fares and federal funding.

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As of Monday, two Dallas City Council committees backed opposing recommendations on DART funding. The council’s transportation and infrastructure committee supported fully funding DART, and the council’s government performance and financial management committee supported restructuring DART sales tax contributions.

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However, concerns over the effect of a lower rate on Dallas’ residents most dependent on public transit led most city leaders to get behind supporting DART.

“We’re talking about people and transportation,” said council member Carolyn King Arnold. “This is a non-negotiable conversation.” She added that she believes the “city and this region depends on DART as a viable means of transportation.”

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Council member Kathy Stewart said she feared any or all of the four transit stations in her northeast Dallas district could be targeted for closure. Council member Gay Donnell Willis said the lack of a clear plan for DART to make up the money some other way gave her pause, even though she wanted to see Dallas’ contributions lowered. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua called the defund push from neighboring cities “lackluster” and said it ignored coordination with Dallas officials and a full understanding of the ramifications.

“The reality is we are Dallas. It says ‘Dallas Area Rapid Transit,’ ” he said. “And we need to make sure that we lead on this issue.”

Most of DART’s money comes from a 1-cent sales tax from each of its member cities that voters approved when the agency was created in the 1980s. But since June, officials in Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Highland Park, Irving, Plano and Rowlett have passed resolutions in support of lowering their sales tax revenue to DART. They cited poor service for residents and a lack of transparency.

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The resolutions are non-binding and largely symbolic because voters and the 15-member DART board of directors would have to approve lowering the sales tax contribution. DART officials have pushed back on calls to reduce the funding.

The DART board also on Tuesday passed its own 2025 state legislative agenda opposing any measures aimed at decreasing the agency’s funding.

This comes after a report released last month comparing DART’s total expenses in the 2023 fiscal year for each of its 13 member cities to their sales tax contributions found six of them, including Dallas, gave a lower percentage in tax revenue than expenses.

The biggest disparity was in Dallas, which accounted for 49% of DART’s $834 million in sales tax contributions that fiscal year and 65% of the transit agency’s $1 billion in total expenses, according to the report.

Cockrell Hill, Garland, Glenn Heights, Irving and Rowlett were the other cities the analysis found had a lower contribution percentage than expense percentage.

The city that was the furthest on the opposite end was Plano, which made up 13% of the tax contributions and 4% of DART’s total expenses.

Randall Bryant, one of Dallas’ eight DART board appointees, warned Dallas City Council members on Tuesday that undoing the current funding structure would affect how the agency pays its debts.

“The fact of the matter is the city of Dallas should continue to fully fund DART,” he said during the City Council meeting.

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But officials in the six dissenting cities have threatened to back possible legislation next year that they suggest could force DART’s hand.

Last week, they set a Nov. 11 deadline for DART to agree to a plan that would refund the cities up to 25% of their tax contributions or they would advocate for a bill aimed at changing the transit agency’s funding structure during next year’s legislative session.

Nov. 11 is the first day state lawmakers can file bills for the upcoming Legislature.

Council member Cara Mendelsohn said she guessed a bill proposal had already been drafted and warned Dallas could be at a disadvantage by continuing to stand by DART. She proposed a motion Tuesday for Dallas to support reconfiguring sales tax contributions and other city legislative priority amendments that her colleagues called “last minute” and ultimately voted down.

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“What is possible if we stick with the support of full funding is that we have the worst-case scenario, meaning the suburbs will get restructured and have a reduced contribution and we will not,” said the far north Dallas representative.

The city’s list of state legislative priorities also includes pursuing legislation that would allow Dallas to preserve local control; expand access to strategies that better address opioid overdoses and treatment; support proposals that would clarify the legality of poker businesses; expand homeownership and eviction protections for renters; monitor bills related to funding and oversight of city pensions; and decriminalize marijuana.

Mayor Eric Johnson said the slate of state legislative priorities shouldn’t stop any council member from going to the state’s Capitol and letting it be known that their personal stance strays from the majority.

“I will personally tell you that I don’t support everything that’s in the legislative agenda, probably never have,” the mayor said. “But it won’t stop me from picking up the phone or going down [to Austin] if I feel that strongly about something to say, ‘Well, I feel a little differently than everyone else about this.’ ”