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Election Day is Nov. 5. Here’s how Dallas voters can change how the city is run

Voters will cast ballots on 18 propositions seeking to update the city charter and city code, including salary raises for the City Council and a ban on marijuana arrests involving less than 4 ounces.

Update:
Correction, Oct. 17, 2022: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed that there are 18 propositions to amend Dallas' charter. There are 17 propositions related to the charter and one code amendment.

Dallas residents have 17 proposed updates to Dallas’ charter and one to update the city’s code on the Nov. 5 ballot to consider, and with complicated language, the decisions can be overwhelming.

There were initially three additional propositions, but the Texas Supreme Court on Sept. 11 ordered Dallas to cut the proposals because they didn’t explicitly say that they would cancel out three other possible charter changes proposed by the nonprofit Dallas Hero. As a result, voters won’t be allowed to weigh in on Propositions K, M and N, which were designed to nullify Propositions S, T and U.

Dallas Hero backed the latter proposals and said they were necessary to improve public safety and hold government officials accountable, but city leaders have largely criticized the ideas as fiscally irresponsible and detrimental to nearly all city services.

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The charter is essentially Dallas’ constitution and defines the powers, functions and structure of its municipal government. The city typically reviews the document every 10 years; any change requires voter approval.

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The final day to apply for a mail-in ballot is on Oct. 25. Early voting runs from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. Election Day is on Nov. 5.

Here are the proposed charter amendments that will appear on the ballot and an explanation for each of them:

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Proposition A: Dallas Employees’ Retirement Fund changes

Shall Chapter 40A of the Dallas City Code, known as the employees’ retirement fund of the City of Dallas, be amended in accordance with Ordinance No. 32801 to: add, revise, and delete various definitions; provide amended terms and term limits of the board; modify the retirement fund board’s powers and duties; specify the date the board shall adopt the actuarially determined contribution rate, the current total adjusted total obligation rate, the current total obligation rate, and the pension obligation bond credit rate for each fiscal year; provide amended contribution amounts for the city and employees; provide a contribution maximum for Tier A and Tier B employees; provide that the city may contribute additional monies to the retirement fund in its sole discretion; amend the modifications of contribution rates; provide guardrails with respect to the calculation of the actuarially determined contribution and incorporating the guardrails into actuarial assumptions; and amend the procedure to amend Chapter 40A?

This proposal makes a series of changes impacting the pension system for civilian employees as well as the board that oversees it.

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The Dallas Employees’ Retirement Fund was created in the 1940s, and its board of trustees is responsible for administering retirement, disability and death benefits for more than 14,000 active and retired city employees. The seven-member group is made up of the city auditor, three people appointed by the City Council and three city employees selected by active retirement fund members.

This amendment adds language to the Dallas code that puts term limits for six of the seven pension board members, which was the subject of a lawsuit between the city and the pension board. The term limits exclude the city auditor.

A few updates are expected to help shore up funding gaps in the pension system, which faces a more than $1 billion shortfall. If approved, this amendment would eliminate a cap on the maximum amount the city can contribute, increase the contribution percentage for some members, and add language allowing the City Council to approve giving lump-sum payments to the pension fund.

In September, the Dallas City Council approved a plan for the city to contribute $11 billion over 30 years to address the funding gap for the police and fire pension system. The city hasn’t yet decided how much of a lump-sum officials would be willing to put into the Employees’ Retirement Fund.

Proposition B: Adding a preamble to the city charter

Shall the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a preamble that declares the city to be an equitable democracy, comprised of representatives that act to make the city fair, equitable, just, and safe for all residents?

This proposal adds what is essentially a mission statement to the beginning of the charter.

Council member Adam Bazaldua, who proposed the item for the ballot, recommended during a June 5 council meeting that the city have a preamble after he said he received requests from some residents who noted other major cities — like New York City and Washington, D.C. — had similar declarations in their charter.

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“This is more about just shoring up what our city stands for and is the beginning of the governing document of what our body’s work is prioritizing,” he said. “I think it speaks to the inclusivity and equitable approach that we have in our form of government.”

Proposition C: Increasing salaries for the mayor and councilmembers

Shall Chapter III, Section 4(a) of the Dallas City Charter be amended to increase the annual salary for the mayor to $110,000 and the annual salaries for councilmembers to $90,000, with wages subject to a yearly adjustment equal to the year-over-year percentage increase in the local consumer price index, effective January 1, 2025?

This proposal would raise the annual salary of Dallas’ mayor from $80,000 to $110,000 and the pay of the 14 district council members from $60,000 to $90,000.

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The salaries for the mayor and the other 14 council members come from Dallas’ general fund, which pays for the majority of city services such as police and fire response, libraries, parks and street maintenance.

Proposition D: Removing the election date from the charter

Shall Chapter IV, Section 3 of the Dallas City Charter be amended by deleting the requirement that elections for members of the city council be held in May and instead be held according to state law and as designated by city resolution or ordinance?

This proposal would remove references in the charter requiring City Council elections to be held in May and allow the City Council to set the election date via a resolution or ordinance. This would enable the city to move its elections to November, which supporters hope will boost voter turnout. State legislators must also approve allowing Dallas to move council elections from May.

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Proposition E: Eliminating the ability for council members and mayor to run again after serving the limit of terms

Shall Chapter III, Section 3A of the Dallas City Charter be amended to eliminate the ability for members of the city council to run for city council again after serving the maximum four two-year terms and to eliminate the ability for the mayor to run for mayor again after serving the maximum two four-year terms?

The charter allows the mayor to serve two four-year terms and the 14 district council members to serve four two-year terms. They can run for City Council again after not participating for at least one election cycle.

This proposal would eliminate the ability of prior mayors or council members to run for City Council after previously being elected and serving the maximum number of terms.

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Proposition F: Providing the city secretary and city auditor with employees

Shall Chapter IIIA, Section 2 and Chapter IX, Section 2 of the Dallas City Charter, which requires the city council to provide assistants to the city secretary and city auditor, be amended to also require the city council to provide employees to the city secretary and city auditor?

This proposal clarifies that the city secretary and city auditor can hire and fire all employees in their offices. The charter currently just lists assistants.

If approved, the city secretary and auditor would have the same level of oversight of their staff as the city manager and city attorney. All four officials are appointed by and report directly to the City Council.

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City Secretary Bilierae Johnson described the proposed change during a February Charter Review Commission meeting as “just procedural” and said the way the charter is currently written doesn’t make clear to whom employees in those offices directly report. She and City Auditor Mark Swann told the commission they don’t have the final decision.

“For me, it’s clarifying or making it very clear that the city secretary is responsible for hiring not just assistants, but the employees,” Johnson said during the meeting. “There was a distinction made between assistants and employees.”

The City Secretary’s Office has around 25 employees and a budget of $5.6 million, and the Auditor’s Office has around 20 employees and a budget of $3.2 million.

Proposition G: Adding eligibility criteria for serving on the redistricting commission

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Shall Chapter IV, Section 5(b)(2) of the Dallas City Charter, which establishes the redistricting commission, be amended by adding eligibility criteria for serving on the redistricting commission?

This would add language to the charter to restrict who can be appointed by a City Council member to the redistricting committee. This citizen board meets every 10 years to recommend city district boundary adjustments. The new criteria would disqualify relatives of council members, registered city lobbyists, people who have contractual obligations with the city, and others with ties to the city or elected officials.

This proposal was backed by State Rep. Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Charter Review Commission member in 2014, and Stuart Campbell, a member of this year’s commission. During a commission meeting in April, Stewart said that the proposal was meant to make the redistricting process “more efficient, more fair and more transparent.”

“What this is supposed to do is cut down on unethical conflicts of interest,” he said.

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Proposition H: Eliminating the requirement that members of boards and commissions created by charter be registered to vote, qualified voters, or qualified taxpaying citizens

Shall Chapter IV, Section 5; Chapter XV, Section 3; Chapter XVI, Section 1; and Chapter XVII, Section 2 of the Dallas City Charter be amended by eliminating the requirement that members of the redistricting commission, city plan commission, civil service board, and park and recreation board be registered to vote, qualified voters, or qualified taxpaying citizens?

Removing this requirement would put the eligibility of members who serve on these four groups in line with the rest of Dallas’ around 50 volunteer citizen boards and commissions.

The Redistricting Commission, City Plan Commission, Civil Service Board, and Park and Recreation Board are the only city citizen boards established by the charter. The City Council appoints its members, and the four groups decide on matters involving city district boundary adjustments, planning and zoning, city employee rules and regulations, and parks and recreation.

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Proposition I: Amending initiative and referendum petition procedure by extending the deadline for petition signature collection from 60 days to 120 days and reducing the number of signatures required on a petition to initiate a referendum

Shall Chapter XVIII, Section 11 of the Dallas City Charter, which establishes procedures for initiative and referendum of ordinances, be amended to extend the deadline petitioners must meet to collect required signatures from 60 days to 120 days and reduce the number of signatures required on a petition from 10 percent of the qualified voters of the City of Dallas to five percent?

This proposal would increase the time people have to collect valid voters’ signatures on petitions to create a ballot proposition for a new Dallas ordinance in the city code or to change an existing one. The deadline would extend from 60 days to 120. This proposition would also lower the number of valid voters’ signatures necessary on petitions. The minimum requirement would drop from 10% of Dallas-qualified voters to 5%. The current 10% requirement equals around 70,000 signatures.

Supporters have said the current requirements for residents to lead an effort to have voters weigh in on whether to add or remove local laws are too high because they require a number of signatures collected that is higher than the number of voters who participate in city elections. In May 2024, for instance, a little more than 41,000 city voters cast ballots in Dallas County out of almost 669,000 registered voters.

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Proposition J: Allowing the City Council to replace city board and commission members before the completion of board and commission terms

Shall Chapter XXIV, Section 17(b) of the Dallas City Charter be amended to allow city council’s appointments to city boards and commissions to be replaced by city council prior to completion of a member’s two-year term?

This proposal would allow the City Council to replace appointed members of boards and commissions at any time before the end of that board or commission member’s two-year term via a majority council vote.

Proposition K is no longer on the ballot.

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Proposition L: Adding the office of the inspector general to the charter

Shall Chapter XI, Section 2 be amended and a new chapter be added to the Dallas City Council that establishes the Office of the Inspector General with the Inspector General being appointed by city council and lists the duties of the Inspector General?

This change would create a new chapter in the charter, moving the Inspector General division out of the city attorney’s office and establishing it as its own office. The Inspector General would report directly to the City Council rather than the city attorney. The Inspector General, the city’s top investigator of ethics and public correction complaints, would be appointed and fired by the City Council. At least 10 members of the council, or 2/3 of the 15-person group, would have to approve firing the Inspector General.

Proposition M is no longer on the ballot.

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Proposition N is no longer on the ballot.

Proposition O: Amending the appointment procedure and qualifications of associate municipal judges

Shall Chapter VIII, Section 6 of the Dallas City Charter be amended to clarify the terms of associate municipal judges and state that associate municipal judges are appointed by city council, receive assignments from the administrative judge or the administrative judge’s designee, and must be residents of Dallas within four months of the date of appointment and practicing attorneys in good standing?

This proposal would update the charter to clarify the current position of Dallas associate municipal court judges and state that their qualifications are the same as municipal judges, including the residency requirement.

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The city’s municipal court handles Class C misdemeanor and civil cases. Dallas has 10 full-time municipal judges and 18 part-time associate municipal judges.

Council member Paul Ridley, during a June City Council meeting, described the current charter language on this topic as “clearly outdated” and “archaic.”

He noted the charter refers to associate municipal judges as temporary judges appointed only by council members in cases of a municipal judge being unable to act.

Proposition P: Deleting the requirement to pay one-half the costs of administrative law judge

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Shall Chapter XVI, Section 12.1 of the Dallas City Charter be amended by deleting the requirement that a city employee who appeals his or her discharge or reduction in grade to an administrative law judge pay one-half of the costs attributed to having the administrative law judge conduct the appeal hearing?

This proposal would eliminate a charter requirement for a city employee who appeals their demotion or termination to an administrative law judge to pay half the costs for having that official conduct an appeal hearing.

Proposition Q: Technical amendments to conform to state law, city code, and actual practices; to correct terms; and to clarify language

Shall Chapter III, Section 3; Chapter III, Section 4; Chapter III, Chapter 8(b); Chapter III, Section 13(a); Chapter III, Section 19; Chapter IV, Section 6(a); Chapter IV, Section 6(c)(2); Chapter IV, Section 13; Chapter XI, Section 1; Chapter XI, Section 3; Chapter XII, Section 4; Chapter XIII, Section 2(2); Chapter XIII, Section 9; Chapter XIV, Section 8; Chapter XV, Section 3; Chapter XV, Section 4; Chapter XVI, Section 3(b)(1); Chapter XVI, Section 7; Chapter XVI, Section 10(a); Chapter XVI, Section 11(b); Chapter XVIII, Section 7; Chapter XVIII, Section 11(1); Chapter XVIII, Section 15; Chapter XIX, Section 7; Chapter XXII, Section 2; Chapter XXII, Section 3; Chapter XXII, Section 4(1); Chapter XXII, Section 10; and Chapter XXIV of the Dallas City Charter be amended to conform to state law, conform to the city code, match actual practices, correct terms, clarify language, and other technical amendments?

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This proposal approves a series of changes for Dallas’ charter to conform to state law and city code, correct and clarify language and match actual city practices. One example would be updating “citizens” to “residents,” “people” or “person” throughout the charter.

Another example would be updating City Council candidate residency requirements to mandate they be residents of the district they’re looking to represent for at least six months before the filing deadline instead of at least six months before the election. Mayoral candidates would have to be continuous city residents for at least six months and Texas residents for a year ahead of the filing deadline rather than a year from the election date.

Proposition R: Reform marijuana enforcement

Shall the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new section in Chapter XXIV that reforms marijuana possession enforcement by prohibiting the Dallas Police Department from making arrests or issuing citations for marijuana possession or considering the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search or seizure, except as part of a violent felony or high priority narcotics felony investigation; making enforcement of Class A (currently, two to four ounces) and Class B (currently, up to two ounces) misdemeanor marijuana possession the Dallas Police Department’s lowest enforcement priority; and prohibiting city funds or personnel from being used to test cannabis-related substances to determine whether a substance meets the legal definition of marijuana, except in limited circumstances?

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This proposal would ban the police department from arresting or citing people suspected of possessing four ounces or less of marijuana unless it is part of a felony investigation involving violence or narcotics. It also wouldn’t allow police to consider the smell of marijuana as probable cause for a search or seizure. It would prohibit city funds or workers from being used to test cannabis-related substances to determine if they meet the legal definition of marijuana.

The item is a ballot proposition backed by the nonprofit group Ground Game Texas, which received at least 20,000 signatures from valid voters in support.

Proposition S: Granting standing to residents and waiving governmental immunity

Shall the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new chapter that grants standing to any resident of Dallas to bring a lawsuit against the city to require the city to comply with provisions of the city charter, city ordinances, and state law; entitles claimants to seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the city and recover costs and reasonable attorney’s fees; and waives the city’s governmental immunity from suit and liability in claims brought under this amendment?

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This proposal requires the city to waive its governmental immunity to allow any resident to file a lawsuit alleging the municipal government isn’t complying with the charter, local ordinances or state law. It is one of three ballot propositions from the group Dallas Hero, which received at least 20,000 signatures from valid voters in support.

A “resident” is defined as a person who lives within the city limits or any firm, corporation, limited liability company, joint venture, trust, estate, nonprofit, or association either physically located in Dallas or conducts business in the city, the proposal states.

Whoever is suing the city must provide the municipal government with at least 60 days’ notice before filing legal action and “reasonably describe” the part of the charter, city ordinance or state law they believe has been violated, the proposed charter language says.

Texas provides governmental immunity to cities, protecting them from lawsuits and liability. The law does allow people to sue the state and cities for damages in some cases of negligence.

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Officials from Dallas Hero say they believe the proposal is necessary to empower residents to hold government officials accountable for not following local and state laws.

Proposition T: Annual community survey

Shall Chapter VI of the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new section compelling the city to conduct the city-commissioned Community Survey on an annual basis, to be completed by a minimum of 1,400 Dallas residents on their satisfaction on quality of life issues, the results of which will result in the city manager earning additional performance compensation (between 0 percent and 100 percent of the city manager’s annual base salary) or the termination of the city manager?

This change would require Dallas to conduct an annual survey of at least 1,400 residents, rating the city manager’s performance on five topics. The consequences of the results would range from the City Council approving a financial bonus equal to the city manager’s base salary to termination.

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This is one of three ballot propositions backed by the group Dallas Hero, and it received support from at least 20,000 signatures from valid voters.

The survey would have to be conducted and published between Jan. 1 and March 15 each year and poll at least 100 residents from all 14 council districts about their feelings on how the city is addressing crime, homelessness, litter, panhandling and the condition of streets. Each topic would be rated on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being “a major problem” and 4 being “not a problem.”

Dallas has around 1.3 million residents, with roughly 90,000 people in each council district.

If less than 30% of the responses on all five topics are a 1 or 2, then the city manager should be paid a performance bonus equal to their annual base salary. The bonus amount decreases if the threshold isn’t met for all five issues. Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert’s base salary as of September was $319,725.

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If no more than two topics yield less than 30% of the responses as a 1 or 2, then the city manager should be fired by the City Council within 30 days and disqualified from being reappointed as city manager for 10 years.

The proposal says the impact of the survey results only applies if the city manager has been on the job for at least 18 months as of Jan. 1 in the year the poll results are published.

Proposition U: Police and fire funding appropriation

Shall Chapter XI of the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new section compelling city council to appropriate no less than 50 percent of annual revenue that exceeds the total annual revenue of the previous year to fund the Dallas Police and Fire Pension, with any monies remaining of that 50% to be appropriated to increasing the starting compensation of officers of the Dallas Police Department and to increase the number of police officers to a minimum of 4,000, and to maintain that ratio of officers to the City of Dallas population as of the date of passage of this amendment?

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This proposal would require the City Council to approve setting aside at least 50% of any excess yearly revenue for the police and fire pension system and other public safety-related initiatives. This is one of three ballot propositions backed by Dallas Hero, and it received at least 20,000 signatures of support from valid voters.

The proposition describes excess revenue as when a higher revenue amount is obtained during a fiscal year than the previous year. Documents show the city estimated receiving $3.5 billion in all city operating revenue last fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, and around $143 million more this current fiscal year.

According to the proposal, the State Pension Review Board or the City Council sets how much of the 50 percent goes to the police and fire pension.

If there is any money left of that 50%, it should go to public safety objectives like making police officers’ starting salary and non-pension benefits within the top five of city police departments in North Texas with populations over 50,000 and increasing the total number of officers to at least 4,000 and maintaining that minimum. The city, as of mid-August, had 3,080 police officers.

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The police and fire pension system has a funding gap of around $3 billion. In September, the City Council approved a plan for Dallas to contribute $11 billion to the system over 30 years to address the shortfall. The city also has plans to hire 250 new officers in the new fiscal year, though they’ve missed trying to hit a similar mark in recent years and lost nearly as many cops due to attrition.