The City of Dallas allocated $153,689,531 of taxpayer money from its $4.63 billion budget for Department of Sanitation Services operations.
The department serves about 246,000 households in Dallas. The monthly fee the City charges residents for such services is projected to increase from $35.81 in FY 2023-24 to $37.98 in FY 2023-24 and $39.38 in FY 2024-25, according to the budget.
“Primary causes for the fee increases include increase to industrial temp labor living wage; increases to employee health benefit costs; increase to brush and bulky trash collection contract; and increases in equipment maintenance costs,” the budget reads.
Services to be provided by the department in FY 2023-24 include residential trash removal ($59,249,811), bulk trash collection ($28,371,420), landfill services ($45,245,520), recycling services ($19,462,412), waste collection for City facilities ($832,212), and the collection and disposal of animal remains ($528,156).
The department’s budget is projected to increase another $5 million next year to $158,762,727. The projection follows a month-long debate among Dallas City Council members about how to get a handle on taxpayer spending to avert a financial crisis, as reported by The Dallas Express.
The final $4.63 billion budget for FY 2023-24 was approved by the City Council on Wednesday with a property tax increase of $120 million, despite objections from City officials like Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) and Mayor Eric Johnson.
Still, Dallas residents maintain that the City government does a “poor” job of keeping Dallas clean, according to a City satisfaction survey.
As reported by The Dallas Express, Dallas has previously ranked among the top 10 dirtiest cities in the United States, with its state of cleanliness linked by some observers to the city’s ongoing homelessness and vagrancy crisis.
Relatedly, the City has advised well-meaning residents against giving food to the homeless, a practice that can inadvertently cause more trash to accumulate on the streets.
Dallas has also ranked as one of the most pest-infested cities in the United States, according to an August study reported on by The Dallas Express.
