The Dallas City Manager today released the city’s proposed budget for 2023, totaling more than $4.51 billion.

The City of Dallas received an estimated $132.2 million more in property-tax revenue this year than in the previous year, an increase of 10.97%. New construction accounts for about $24.9 million of that increase, according to the 757-page budget.

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The proposed budget calls for raising the city’s own minimum wage to $18 an hour.

While property taxes have increased due to high valuations from the Dallas Central Appraisal District, the budget proposes cutting the property tax rate by 2.75 cents, from 77.33 cents per $100 valuation, to 74.58 cents. It also proposes increasing the over-65 and disabled exemption from $107,000 to $115,500.

An amended budget for this past year totals more than $4.469 billion, a difference of $120.8 million over the $4.349 billion that was proposed last summer, according to the budget’s 40-page executive summary.

KERA is taking over WRR radio station, 101.1 on the dial and over 101 years old, from the City of Dallas, a deal that’s reflected in the above chart. The city expects to spend about $812,000 less on the radio station this year, about a 44% reduction.

Public safety, normally the costliest annual budget item, has been knocked to No. 2. The budget proposes spending almost $1.16 billion on police and public safety in the 2022-’23 fiscal year, including hiring 250 new officers and providing training for existing staff.

Transportation will get almost $1.57 billion.

That would pay for improvements to 787 miles of street lanes, 12 alleys totaling $2 million, 12 bridges totaling $4.4 million and 14 sidewalks costing $6.3 million.

Council laid out its “strategic priorities” in February 2020, described in the executive summary as seen below.

At the top of the city’s priorities for economic development is fixing our notoriously sluggish building-permit process.

“Reform the City’s building permit process and improve customer experience through investments in a new centrally located facility, enhanced technology and expanded staffing,” the executive summary states.

That wording — “new centrally located facility” — hints that the Oak Cliff Municipal Center on Jefferson Boulevard could be redeveloped.

The summary also advances a $2-billion plan to redevelop the Downtown convention center. It also calls for overhauling the city’s development code, and to “pave the way” for redeveloping the auto impound on Vilbig Road in West Dallas by offloading it to a third-party manager, in a similar vein as the Dallas Zoo and WRR.

Budget plans for homelessness include launching the Homeless Action Response Team “to deliver immediate interventions to address safety concerns connected to homeless encampments.”

Expanding library hours and strengthening code enforcement are among the priorities for quality of life, arts and culture budgeting.

And adopting a racial equity plan is among the top priorities for workforce, education and equity.

Town-hall Meetings

Neighborhood budget town-hall meetings with City Council members begin Thursday, Aug. 11, and they run through Aug. 25.

There are a total of 35 town-hall budget meetings citywide that are in-person as well as online and over the telephone.

Find the one that suits you best here.