City Manager T.C. Broadnax recommends increasing the City of Dallas budget to $4.6 billion for fiscal year 2023-24, according to a proposed budget released by the City on Friday.
As part of the $4.63 billion total budget, Broadnax recommends a General Fund Budget of $1.84 billion.
The budget for fiscal year 2022-23 totaled $4.5 billion, with $1.7 billion allocated to the General Fund.
The FY23-24 proposed budget includes a $0.0065 reduction in the City of Dallas property tax rate from $0.7458 to $0.7393 per $100 valuation.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, property tax reform is one of the highest priorities of Mayor Eric Johnson.
Under Johnson’s administration, the City has decreased the tax rate and increased the senior homestead exemption to $139,400. However, a survey earlier this year showed that 71% of Dallas residents still believe property taxes need to be lowered more.
Furthermore, Broadnax noted during a Thursday budget preview for the press that the proposed budget includes a recommendation to hire 290 new police officers for the Dallas Police Department. It further recommends instituting an initiative to retain officers planning to retire and allocating a $14.3 million spending increase for DPD overtime.
This proposed increase, however, would still leave DPD far below the City’s target number of sworn personnel. A City analysis determined the department should have about 4,000 officers. The department currently employs around 3,100.
Dallas residents are reportedly enduring some of the longest police response times in years amid DPD’s struggle with the shortage, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The proposed budget also includes spending $18 million on new vehicles for Dallas Fire-Rescue.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the City of Dallas was reportedly hit by a ransomware attack on May 3 that apparently prevented months of data recorded by DPD and Dallas Fire-Rescue from being made available to the public.
Broadnax said Thursday that he plans to spend $9.7 million on cybersecurity initiatives in response to the alleged ransomware attack.
He further recommended allocating $1.5 million to “decommission” homeless encampments. Homelessness and vagrancy continue to plague the City of Dallas and remain a “major” problem, according to residents. The City budget included over $15 million of spending meant to address the problem this fiscal year, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
Additionally, the proposed budget includes spending $1.4 million on enforcing the short-term rental regulation that the City Council passed in June.
A summary of Broadnax’s financial priorities for the upcoming fiscal year can be found here.
