Town-hall meetings for questions and input on the city of Dallas’ 2015 budget start this week.
The $2.81-billion proposed budget calls for restoring some city services and does not seek to cut any services. The property tax rate won’t go up, although the city expects to receive about $74 billion in property taxes because of higher valuations. In 2015, the city expects to earn about $11.2 million more in sales taxes over the previous year. The city also is increasing revenues by hiking the residential sanitation rate by 67 cents.
City Councilman Scott Griggs says he was pleased to see additional funding for streets, libraries and public safety. But he thinks the budget could be tighter.
“The Proposed FY 14-15 Budget increases back office expenses, particularly executive, support staff and administrative personnel,” he says. “I would rather see the focus on citizen priorities such as libraries and streets and other deliverables.”
The meetings with Griggs in Oak Cliff are Tuesday, Aug. 12; Thursday, Aug. 14; and Wednesday, Aug. 20. Here are the details on the budget meetings. A meeting with Griggs and councilmen Phillip Kingston and Adam Medrano is at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, at Dallas City Performance Hall.
The full budget proposal is below.
