Photo by Victoria Hernandez.
Less than a week away from the District 1 Budget Townhalls, City Councilmember Chad West came up with several key take-aways from the proposed Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget, which was shared with Dallas City Council members earlier this month at an Aug. 12 meeting.
West said that the proposed budget from City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert was done to the best of her ability, reflecting equity among the districts’ funding.
“I know the city manager has done the best she can with the resources that she does have in addressing all those public safety issues,” he said, “and that also includes the obligations to the pension, the meet and confer, which is for raising police and fire salaries.”
However, West did highlight that with those contractual obligations, that creates some challenges for the city manager to be able to address other needs in the city, like parks, libraries, street repair and things of that nature.
Library closures have been a big concern from the community, with reports of potentially five branches risking closure, including the Skillman Southwestern Branch Library that narrowly avoided closure in 2024.
In an email from Chad West Wednesday morning, he “confirmed with the Chief Financial Officer for the city that the only library slated for closure in this year’s budget is the Skillman location.”
Although this does not affect the Oak Cliff branch libraries, West emphasized that he does not support the closure of any libraries, as they serve as lifelines for many residents.
Other concerns West raised regarding the proposed budget include funding for infrastructure, streets, sidewalks, bike lanes and alleys.
“I do not feel like we are putting enough funding into street repairs,” he said. “I do feel like we also need to be better prioritizing pedestrian and bicycle safety. We have a policy in the city to to strive towards Vision Zero, which is elimination of vehicular fatalities over time. And we’re not seeing reductions in those.”
Taking the weekend to compile a full response, West has prepared three pages of questions for the city manager to address concerns of District 1 within the budget which he sent today.
As for the future edits toward the budget, West is hosting town halls for public comment, which he expects to be filled with concerns regarding fully funding the arts programs in the city and increased hours in recreation centers and parks.
“People want more hours and more opportunities, not less,” West said. “I did confirm with staff that there are going to be some recommended pool closures and that Martin Weiss pool is not one of the ones that’s going to be recommended to be closed.”
Based on the PKR budget presentation to be presented to Council later today, it shows that Martin Weiss is one of the most attended community pools, and West’s team does not believe any Martin Weiss closures are being considered.
Another big shift within the proposed budget is the consolidation of different departments. This is one concern West said he has is the uncertainty in how the city manager will be structuring the housing department and where facilitation of the housing programs will fall.
“I believe that the lack of affordable housing is the crisis of this decade for the City of Dallas, and we need all hands on deck to build more housing and to conserve the current affordable housing stock that we have,” he said.
As the deadline for amendments to the budget from city council members draws near, Chad West will be taking constituents’ concerns into account before decisions are made. To voice your opinion, attend the District 1 Budget Town Halls next week online August 25 or in-person August 26.
