Billion Dollar News
Dallas City Council passes $4.9B budget for '24-25, property tax drops
Dallas City Hall
The Dallas City Council unanimously adopted a budget and tax rate for FY 2024/25 totaling $4.97 billion. It goes into effect October 1 and runs through September 30, 2025.
The top topics are public safety, whose budget increased; and property tax, whose rate went down.
Public Safety: The combined budget for the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Fire Rescue increased by $78 million.
Property tax: The budget includes a property tax rate reduction of 3.10 cents, lowering the property tax rate from 73.57 cents to 70.47 cents per $100 valuation. A release calls it the largest single-year reduction in modern history. We can't rule out ancient history but definitely lowest in modern times.
In addition, the property tax exemption for 65 and older or living with a disability has increased from $139,400 to $153,400.
The $4.97 billion is just under $5 billion, which is surely deliberate. It's like when retailers charge $9.99 — it's really $10 but you can still get the cheaper buzz of something being $9-something. Saying the budget is $4-billion something feels way better than saying it's $5 billion.
Budget Highlights:
- Invest $44.1 million in pay raises.
- Hire 250 police recruits and implementing an incentive program to retain officers.
- Add 63 firefighters and four Single Function Paramedics to strengthen response to medical calls.
- Ensure the fiscal soundness of both the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System (DPFPS) and the Employee Retirement Fund (ERF) with increased City contributions. (At its meeting on September 11, the Dallas City Council voted to invest $11.2 billion over the next three decades to fix a $4 billion shortfall.)
- Continue partnership for the R.E.A.L. Time Rehousing (RTR) program to reduce unsheltered homelessness.
- Invest $129.5 million in funding for street improvement and maintenance of approximately 710 lane miles, alley maintenance, sidewalk projects, bridge maintenance, and updating paving model.
- Invest $26.2 million to address City facility maintenance needs.
- Launch Clean Sweep! a proactive Citywide program to keep public right-of-way clean.
“This budget is focused and mindful of every tax dollar we spend, while addressing the needs of our residents and the priorities of the Dallas City Council,” said Interim Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert. “We are proud to deliver the largest tax rate reduction in Dallas’ modern history without compromising our commitment to delivering Service First with the urgency of Now! And, we cannot stop there, we must be diligent to continuously improve. We will Reset, Revisit, and Raise the Bar for the next budget cycle and beyond.”
