North Texas lawmaker's bill would reduce DART funding by 25%
Proposed bill could reduce DART funding by 25%
A North Texas lawmaker has filed a bill that would reduce what DART can collect in taxes from its member cities. The cities are happy, but DART argues the loss in funding would be devastating.
PLANO, Texas - Dallas Area Rapid Transit delivers roughly 220,000 people on buses and trains to their destinations.
However, DART said that proposed legislation from a North Texas lawmaker would cut a fourth of what it collects from its 13 member cities. And that loss of funding could mean big changes.
DART funding questioned
What we know:
State Rep. Matt Shaheen, a Republican from Plano, recently filed a bill to reduce what DART collects in taxes by 25%.
That’s following non-binding votes by six of DART’s 13 member cities to reduce what the agency gets from them in sales taxes.
"We filed legislation, and it really addresses all the cities that make up the DART system," Rep. Shaheen said.
What they're saying:
The cities argue what DART is providing doesn’t match the payout.
Shaheen pointed to Plano as the example.
"They tax their residents at 1%. 1% of the sales tax goes to DART, and that’s about over $100 million that goes to DART. The problem is the city of Plano, the constituents only receive about 45% of that back in the form of services. So, there’s this net deficit that’s been occurring for years," he said.
Plano council votes to reduce payments to DART as ridership falls
Leaders in Plano are worried the city is not getting its money's worth with Dallas Area Rapid Transit. The city council addressed the issue Monday night.
The other side:
DART President Nadine Lee the loss of funding would lead to significant changes.
"There would be significant impacts across the board to our workforce as well as job access and the service levels that we provide," she said.
Lee said up to 1,000 jobs could be slashed and routes could take twice as long for passengers.
"The DART board had conversations about the various requests that the cities have and the DART board decided that we would prefer to provide more services to our cities rather than give cash to the cities, and that we would be happy to work with our cities," she said.
DART leaders fail to pass $1.8B budget proposal amidst complaints from neighboring cities
Some of the 13 cities using DART are on record expressing extreme dissatisfaction with DART in recent months. Cities of Irving, Plano, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Rowlett and University Park have passed symbolic resolutions in favor of cutting funding.
Mike Morris at the North Central Texas Council of Governments said he believes cutting funding would have unintended consequences.
"We don’t know what DART would have to do if it got a significant cut. If it does X, we may not have any consequences. If it does Y, we could have horrible consequences. And I don’t think any of these parties understand the extent of these potential consequences," he said.
What's next:
The two sides are still talking, but DART’s leader said they are farther apart than they probably want to be.
Morris said he expects the council of governments will urge a regional transportation authority to get involved and try to convince both sides to work it out at home rather than in the legislature.
If the parties can’t agree and if the legislation becomes a law, it will go into effect in September.
The Source: FOX 4 reporter Shaun Rabb talked to State Rep. Matt Sheehan, DART President Nadine Lee, and Mike Moris NCTCG to gather information for this story.