The Dallas Area Rapid Transit board of directors is hoping some of its member cities will reconsider their calls to cut the agency鈥檚 funding as it approaches a looming deadline to resolve the debate.
On Wednesday, DART CEO Nadine Lee provided an update to the board on the agency鈥檚 discussions with each member city. Several have passed resolutions seeking to cut their contributions to the agency, citing issues with its governance, services and economic development.
The issue seems to be headed to the Legislature, and the Regional Transportation Committee has said it will pull support for DART's "status quo" funding if the agency can't reach an agreement with cities by February.
鈥淲e've had meetings with our cities in the past, but this really brings to fruition the areas of concern,鈥� said Carmen Garcia, one of the Dallas representatives on the board.
The letter from Plano
The board last week from Plano Mayor John B. Muns asking the agency to, among other things, pay the city back a quarter of its funding from 2024 and 2025 over the next two years.
The letter cites a recent report by the consulting firm Ernst & Young that provided a snapshot of the agency鈥檚 spending relative to its cities' contributions.
鈥淭he $65 million inequity highlighted by the Ernst & Young (EY) report is of great concern to the City of Plano,鈥� Muns wrote.
The city is asking the agency to sign an interlocal agreement and provide back payment of its sales tax contributions. A majority of DART鈥檚 revenue comes from a one-cent sales and use tax its member cities pay. Six of those 13 member cities, including Plano, called to reduce that funding by 25% earlier this year.
If the agency doesn鈥檛 respond, Muns said, the city will continue to pursue changing the one-cent funding model for the agency in the upcoming state legislative session.
Earlier this year, the transit advocacy group Dallas Area Transit Alliance posted a copy of , which calls to reduce the sales tax by 25%.
The bill hasn't yet been filed so it's unknown who may be sponsoring it, but DART board member Mark Enoch confirmed the bill's existence during the Wednesday meeting.
In response, board members are considering ways to meet the needs of member cities while defending its current funding model from legislative change.
鈥淭his is a very serious thing that's fixing happen to DART, and we have the ability to modify that, or just put a little finger in the dike, if we can,鈥� said Enoch, who represents Garland, Glenn Heights and Rowlett.
Enoch said he鈥檚 personally spoken to leaders at each member city and plans to ask them if they will reconsider their resolutions to reduce DART鈥檚 funding.
鈥淚 want to have no resolutions down there on a 25% cut back, because I know what that means for the region and it would be devastating for the region,鈥� Enoch said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 probably not realistic, but we all leave here with responsibilities.鈥�
Question of governance
Lee, DART鈥檚 CEO, said several cities have expressed issues with the agency鈥檚 governance, claiming that representation for Dallas outweighs that of the suburban member cities. But director Enrique MacGregor, who represents Dallas and Cockrell Hill, shot back, calling it a 鈥渇alse narrative.鈥�
鈥淪ome member cities are concerned that Dallas controls the decision making process, and if anybody feels that way, all they need to do is look at the voting record on any controversial issue that we've dealt with, and you'll see that that is not the case,鈥� MacGregor said.
The board also discussed concerns by member cities over how directors are picked to serve, also known as apportionment.
Representation on the 15-member board is based on cities' populations, but the board could consider different governance structures that would instead take into account sales tax contributions and employment in each city.
Board Chair Gary Slagel also floated the option of changing the board鈥檚 apportionment system to an election, where voters would pick who represents them on the board.
鈥淚 understand that elections are expensive, so I think we have to do quite a bit of projecting what it would cost DART to do that,鈥� MacGregor said.
Most board members agreed that they want to meet cities鈥� demands in order to stave off calls to cut funding, but Plano representative Paul Wageman said the board is dismissing the cities鈥� concerns.
鈥淲e have a meeting today to talk about the needs these cities have and the concerns they have about the level of service and attention that DART pays to them,鈥� Wageman said. 鈥淣ow we're ending this meeting by saying, let's go get the other cities to support DART, because that's telling the six cities: 鈥楪o pound sand.鈥欌��
The board plans to meet again on Jan. 8.
Pablo Arauz Pe帽a is 四虎影院鈥檚 growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org. You can follow him on X .
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