DART Promises No New Debt Before November | Image by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (Official DART page)/Facebook
Dallas Area Rapid Transit promised not to take on any new debt until after November, in a “compromise” with member cities ahead of May withdrawal elections.
Farmers Branch, Highland Park, University Park, Irving, and Plano called withdrawal elections on May 2, in which voters will decide whether to leave DART, as The Dallas Express reported.
During negotiations, three of these cities sent requests to the agency, which it answered with a pledge not to take on new debt before the November elections.
DART announced the compromise on January 21.
“DART will agree to hold off on issuing more debt as North Texas residents head to the polls to vote on DART,” said CEO Nadine Lee in a press release. “This will delay some of the scheduled and promised updates the DART staff has been working on, but as good-faith partners in these negotiations, we will honor this compromise.”
DART is negotiating with the member cities ahead of the March 18 deadline to cancel the withdrawal election, as The Dallas Express reported. After that point, the elections will move forward.
“Our priority has been to our riders from the outset of this process, and this allows us to release some of the urgency our member cities feel as they make decisions in the coming months,” Lee said.
If voters decide to withdraw, DART would halt services immediately after the election, as The Dallas Express reported. However, cities would still be required to continue paying off their share of the agency’s billions in debt, which former Plano City Councilman Shelby Williams called an “exit barrier.”
If voters decide to remain with DART, their next window to leave the agency will be 2032.
Member cities have been growing increasingly frustrated with the agency’s spending, governance, and services. A 2023 study found many suburban member cities were paying tens of millions of dollars more to DART than they received in services.
Meanwhile, Dallas contributed just $407.8 million to the agency but received $690.5 million in services.
From 2020 to 2024, DART paid its executives – including Lee – more than $2.4 million in bonuses, as The Dallas Express exclusively reported. But in fall 2025, the agency made historic service cuts, citing a $42 to $43 million budget shortfall from a General Mobility Plan to compromise with member cities.
Meanwhile, DART ridership has still not reached pre-COVID levels, The Dallas Express also reported. Recent growth had been flattening, and Dallas accounted for 75% of ridership.
Before the cities called withdrawal elections, they and DART worked with the North Central Texas Council of Governments – a “metropolitan planning” group that orchestrates projects and funding – to find solutions, according to the release.
DART Board Chair Randall Bryant said in the release that the recent promise to avoid new long-term debt is an “effort to address the concerns raised by DART member cities.”
“We welcome feedback from our partners on solutions that benefit all cities while ensuring DART continues to provide critical public transportation services for our residents and communities,” Bryant said.
The next step of the negotiating process with NCTCOG will be a rate study, exploring the costs of transit services by mode, according to the release.
Carrollton and Farmers Branch held elections in 1985 to withdraw from DART, but they ultimately failed, The Dallas Express reported. In 1989, Coppell and Flower Mound successfully left the agency. In 1996, four cities voted on withdrawing again, but residents chose to stay.