The Dallas City Council will hold a final vote on Wednesday on the proposed Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget, with police staffing and pay at the center of debate.
The council will meet on September 17 at 9 a.m. at City Hall. The current budget proposal does not meet the staffing and pay standards approved by voters under Proposition U in 2024, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Proposition U requires the City to increase the Dallas Police Department’s (DPD) staffing to 4,000 officers and ensure competitive pay. Dallas currently employs fewer than 3,200 officers, while cities of similar size employ closer to 4,000.
According to the FY26 proposed budget, the City expects to hire 350 additional officers in FY26 and 400 more in FY27, ending FY26 with 3,424 sworn officers. That is 576 short of the 4,000-officer minimum required by the charter amendment.
Advocacy groups have urged the public to weigh in ahead of the council’s vote. Keep Dallas Safe posted to X, encouraging residents to register as speakers and call on city leaders to raise police pay, writing: “You pay their salaries. Tell them to Keep Dallas Safe.”
The City is currently accepting registrations for the Wednesday, September 17, 2025, council briefing. Registration closes Tuesday, September 16, at 5 p.m. Residents may register for videoconference or in-person participation.
The debate over police funding comes as Dallas faces rising emergency response times.
The Dallas Express reported that as of June 22, officers averaged 11.19 minutes to respond to “priority one” emergencies, up from 10.67 minutes during the same period last year. Officers averaged 93.95 minutes for priority two calls, which include robberies and burglaries, compared with 86.18 minutes the year before. Priority three calls, including theft and animal cruelty, averaged 265.54 minutes — nearly four and a half hours — compared with 256.58 minutes last year.
CEO of Ashford Inc. and publisher of The Dallas Express, Monty Bennett, highlighted the issue in a post to X, stating, “Dallas residents now wait 14 minutes for the most urgent 911 calls. It’s no wonder people are losing trust, with fewer even bothering to call. This is exactly why @dallas_hero_’s Prop U must be implemented without delay, it’s been voted for, now City Council needs to act.”
The council will take a final vote on Wednesday morning.