After the Dallas City Council passed the budget for the next fiscal year, Mayor Eric Johnson criticized the council for its higher spending, calling the budget “bloated.”

“This is the first Dallas budget to exceed $5 billion,” Johnson said in a press release. “To pass the largest budget in history without the City Council making a real effort to combat waste is unconscionable.”

The city council passed Dallas’ FY 2025-2026 budget on September 18, by a vote of 11-3. Johnson, Deputy Mayor Jesse Moreno, and City Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn were its only opponents. As The Dallas Express previously reported, the $5.2 billion budget will run from October 1 through September 30, 2026.

“In a time of growing competition with Dallas’s suburban neighbors, I could not support a budget that doesn’t deliver meaningful tax relief for our residents,” Johnson explained. 

The budget includes some public safety improvements, but apparently not enough to comply with Proposition U. It increases the Dallas Police Department’s hiring to 3,424 officers, which is the highest staffing level since 2016 – but still short of Proposition U’s mandate for 4,000 police officers. 

Leaders of the Dallas Police Association also urged the council to increase officers’ starting pay, noting that $81,000 ranks only 12th among cities in the area, according to CBS News. Whereas Proposition U requires that the combined starting salary and non-pension benefits rank within the top five of the departments across five metroplex counties with populations exceeding 50,000.

“I introduced a $4.2 million amendment to raise police and fire pay,” Mendelsohn said to The Dallas Express. “The amendment did not pass.”

The new budget offers some drops in tax rates, especially for homeowners and seniors, as The Dallas Express reported. Property tax rates will drop from 70.47¢ to 69.88¢ per $100, marking the tenth consecutive year of cuts.

“We are proud to present a sound budget that upholds our commitment to invest in programs that matter most to our residents, while exemplifying excellence through innovation, efficient government, and targeted economic growth,” City Manager Kim Tolbert said.

In the meeting, Mendelsohn expressed concern that growing property values would outweigh the cuts, still leaving residents with a higher tax burden.

“The rate’s going down, and every year we take this giant bow because our rate has gone down every year I’ve been on council,” Mendelsohn said in the meeting. “But the reality is, the taxes are going up because our property value is exceeding the rate decrease, and our residents cannot continue to afford it.”

Mendelsohn objected to the new budget, calling on officials to economically compete with neighboring cities. 

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“We need to have the courage to cut waste and pay our public safety officers competitively,” she posted. “The budget that passed does not do that.”

Johnson said Tolbert helped focus on what he called the “basics” – investing in streets and public safety, and reducing the tax rates. “Unfortunately, the City Council failed to substantially build on the foundation laid by the City Manager,” he said. 

The ‘Tax Cut Challenge’

Ahead of the vote, Johnson challenged the council to cut wasteful spending and offer tax relief, as The Dallas Express reported. At that point, he said the proposed budget already included a 0.5¢ property tax reduction while investing $1.3 billion in public safety and $162 million in street improvements.

“I challenge each of you to propose budget amendments that cut non-essential spending and direct those savings toward reducing the tax rate,” Johnson wrote at the time – suggesting the council could cancel contracts with outside state lobbyists, and close a library in northeast Dallas.

After the budget passed, Johnson applauded Moreno, Mendelsohn, Councilman Paul Ridley, Councilwoman Kathy Stewart, and Councilman Chad West for proposing amendments to cut $6.5 million in what he called “unnecessary spending.”

“Regrettably, the City Council did not support the majority of these amendments, resulting in a tax rate that remains too high, a rate reduction that will not offset rising property values, and higher tax bills for too many residents,” Johnson said. “The result is a bloated budget that fails to provide much-needed tax relief for Dallas residents.”

Dallas was $6.9 billion in debt as of 2024 and owed $7.75 billion in debt service as of 2025, The Dallas Express reported at the time.

Johnson called on the Committee on Government Efficiency – the workforce, education, and equity committee, which was renamed earlier this year – to eliminate waste at City Hall. 

Gone Overseas – Cost Under Scrutiny

While the council discussed the budget, City Councilman Adam Bazaldua attended virtually – as he was on a trip to Japan that has many wondering at what cost to the taxpayers. 

Bazaldua said September 15 he was representing Dallas on an “international stage” alongside its sister city Sendai, Japan, as The Dallas Express previously reported. The councilman does not chair any committees.

The Dallas Express has submitted a records request for expenses related to this trip and has not received a response at the time of publication. According to WFAA, the city is at least partially paying for Bazaldua’s trip with federal grant money for “rebuilding international business and tourism.”

“There is a huge contrast between one council member taking a second international trip to Japan, and most other council members working late nights and weekends to create budget amendments to reduce the tax rate and increase pay for our public safety officers,” Mendelsohn previously said.

At the time, Mendelsohn said she spoke with Moreno, asking for an agenda item requiring the full council to approve taxpayer-funded international travel for its members and city staff, aiming at “transparency and accountability.”

Damien LeVeck, executive director of the nonprofit Dallas HERO, told The Dallas Express at that point he was seeking the amount of money being spent, how it was being spent, where the money was coming from, and how Tolbert could justify the spending.

Bazaldua’s recent trip to Japan is not his first. He and four other council members traveled to Japan with public funding in 2024, as The Dallas Express previously reported. This cost taxpayers more than $50,000 total. 

They said at the time they were studying Tokyo’s high-speed rail system, considering a Dallas-to-Houston line. That project now faces an uncertain future, after investors pulled support and the federal government cut nearly $70 million in funding.

Johnson also visited Tanzania in July, where he signed a sister city pact, as The Dallas Express also reported. The trip cost more than $40,000, and a private foundation paid $13,000. He published multiple daily readouts of his activities on the visit.

After the council passed the new budget, Johnson criticized the majority for failing to pass spending cuts that some members suggested.

“If we are unable to cut even the low-hanging fruit that these amendments targeted,” Johnson said, “then we are unlikely to accomplish the much more difficult work that will be required to right-size our City budget.”