DALLAS \u2014 Dallas is weighing a proposed $5.6 billion budget that would eliminate nearly 300 city positions, including more than 100 layoffs, as officials work to close a $51 million shortfall ahead of the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n
The proposed cuts would affect departments including libraries, parks and recreation, transportation and public works.<\/p>\n
Dallas City Manager Kimberly Tolbert said the city faces difficult choices as rising costs outpace available resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat rising cost continue to outpace available resources, and that means we must make thoughtful decisions,\u201d Tolbert said.<\/p>\n
The proposal would also eliminate the city\u2019s co-pay health insurance plan and explore privatizing some services.<\/p>\n
Dallas City Council member Chad West said city officials have worked to address the financial challenges facing the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city manager and her team and the city and the chief financial officer have done a good job of really making lemonade out of the lemons they\u2019ve been given,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n
A major factor behind the budget shortfall is spending on public safety. The city is required by law to have 4,000 police officers and remained more than 600 officers short as of August data, with 3,386 officers reported.<\/p>\n
The city is also responsible for funding pension obligations for police and firefighters.<\/p>\n
West said $80.2 million in the proposed budget would go toward public safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cA slight increase in the budget for the overall amount of $80.2 million. All of that and then some is going to go to police and fire,\u201d said West.<\/p>\n
Residents have raised concerns about the potential impact of the proposed cuts, particularly at libraries, parks and community pools.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo talk about libraries. There\u2019s a lot of concerns from my neighbors about parks and potential cuts to community pools,\u201d West said of the comments he has heard from residents.<\/p>\n
West said the Parks and Recreation Department could explore other ways to generate funding, including partnerships with private companies and potentially placing billboards in some park areas.<\/p>\n
The proposed budget would reduce the city\u2019s tax rate by one-tenth of a penny.<\/p>\n
In a newsletter, Mayor Eric Johnson said Dallas does not \u201chave a revenue problem\u201d and suggested the city should use artificial intelligence to improve efficiency.<\/p>\n
West said the city should embrace new technology and adopt practices used by private companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnology is\u2026 the future. And we need to embrace it, as a city, just like private industries is embracing it, and adopt those best practices,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n
The proposal is not final. Dallas is expected to continue discussing and revising the budget before adopting a final plan by at least the end of September.<\/p>\n
The new fiscal year is scheduled to begin Oct. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 Dallas is weighing a proposed $5.6 billion budget that would eliminate nearly 300 city positions, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,1570,102,8082,138,1063,19797,223,287,82,27,1569,835],"class_list":["post-411147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-dfw-what-you-need-to-know","tag-el-paso","tag-local-politics","tag-michael-lozano","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}