The fighting is over, and the Dallas City budget is a done deal. But that does not mean everyone is happy with a $5 billion package that includes more for police and safety and less for some city services. NBC 5’s Maria Guerrero shows us the deal and why some say taxpayers did not get enough relief. The Skillman Southwestern Library branch is set to close in three weeks. I’m not super surprised. I’m a little disappointed. A devastating decision for regulars like Carol Oran.
I’m very sad. This is. I mean, it’s where I volunteer. This is a big part of my community. The closure among only a fraction of proposed cuts approved as part of the city’s new $5.2 billion budget. I supported the overall budget, which does close it, but I tried to fight along with some of my colleagues to keep that Skillman Library open for at least one more year. It’s 1.2 miles from the next library. What we need to do is have expanded hours. Council member Cara mendelsohn steadfast in cutting what she considers wasteful spending from the library to nine city pools closing over the next three years. Nobody can make that hard political choice to say, yeah, the 70 year old leaking pool probably needs to go. Mendelsohn joining Jesse Moreno and Mayor Eric Johnson voting against the spending plan. Johnson calling it a bloated budget that fails to provide much needed tax relief for Dallas residents.
Councilman Chad West backing the budget. It’s not a perfect budget, but I believe the city manager has done a really good job of bringing us the best she can bring us, given the parameters we have from proposition you, West and Mendelsohn showing joint support for the biggest chunk of money, increasing funding for police, fire and pension funds. We see a little bit of a reduction in the tax rate, but they don’t agree on the impact the new tax rate will have now lowered to 69.8 $0.08 per $100 valuation. Median taxpayers can expect a decrease on their property tax bill by $15.46, according to a political analyst. As a politician, we love to say, hey, we lowered your tax rate, but the reality is that your property value went up much higher than the amount we lowered, so it is an increase for everybody.
