Leaders of one of Arlington's police unions want the city to create a special tax district to fund police programs, but city leaders have not publicly taken up the issue as the deadline looms for placing issues on the May election ballot.
Officers with Arlington Municipal Patrolman’s Association (AMPA) have proposed reallocating a portion of the city's sales tax for a Crime Control and Prevention District, or CCPD. Cities around Texas use CCPDs to fund equipment, personnel and programming meant to reduce and prevent crime.
Chris CeBallos, AMPA president, said the city needs to bolster local law enforcement, especially as the entertainment district draws in more high-profile events.
CeBallos said he has not seen police, fire and EMS officials hold a joint training exercise for a mass casualty event in the district and that Arlington Municipal Airport does not have a team on staff who can breach a plane or legally detain someone.
“They’re playing the odds that nothing is going to happen,” CeBallos said. “If something were to happen, then the city leaders, the city manager and the city council, their legacy won’t be that they’re remembered for the things they did. They’ll be remembered for the things they didn’t do.”
City Manager Trey Yelverton said AMPA should share their requests with upper management. He said he recalled a full-scale training before the city hosted Super Bowl XLV in 2011.
“Even if we’ve, you know, not had one in a while, certainly the need to do training is something that is strong and supported and we’re open to all those ideas that improve public safety,” Yelverton said.
Arlington voters would have approved a reallocation of city sales taxes to clear funding for a CCPD, as Texas cities cannot charge more than 2% in sales taxes on top of the 6.25% the state government collects. CeBallos suggests halving the city’s street maintenance sales tax program to free up an eighth of a cent. The quarter-cent sales tax was last approved in 2018 and funds overlay projects, curb repairs and concrete panel replacements.
Halving the street tax is possible, Yelverton said, but would come at the cost of vital street upkeep. Additionally, he said, the police department receives the “lion’s share” of the city’s general fund each year during the annual budgeting process. Police funding accounted for more than 40% of the city’s $322 million general fund budget for Fiscal 2024.
“We don’t have any disagreement at all about wanting to invest more in the police department for the right things, but again, it’s about the 'what' and not the ‘how,’” he said.
City government officials declined funding requests for more staffing, recruitment and training resources, according to a July 31 memo from Chief Financial Officer April Nixon that CeBallos provided to KERA.
Yelverton said the department will add 24 new positions through a federal grant.
“I don’t want it to be missed that we haven’t been investing in both headcount and dollars in the police department,” he said.
CeBallos points to other cities including Grand Prairie, which has half the population of Arlington and a quarter-cent CCPD tax.
“They’re projecting a 3-5% increase (in revenue). They don’t have the large mass gatherings like what we have in Arlington,” CeBallos said.
Next door, Fort Worth dedicates a half-cent sales tax to its CCPD, which has a budget of over $130 million in 2024 for programs ranging from graffiti abatement to a special events response program.
Fort Worth created its district with voter approval in 1995, amid high violent crime rates in town. Voters most recently voted to renew the district in 2020. The renewal passed comfortably, but with less support than previous years.
Johnny Nhan, a criminology and criminal justice professor at TCU, said creating a CCPD is a tougher ask than it was when Fort Worth created its CCPD, when crime rates were higher and “tough on crime” policies reigned.
“The appetite for paying more taxes and things like that are not necessarily the big sell these days,” Nhan said. “It’s not the most appealing thing. It’s particularly difficult, in my opinion, for the police because they do usually take the lion’s share of this budget.”
Arlington voters would need to approve a change in taxes. The city already had one failed election in 2007, when nearly 56% of voters struck down the request.
The city has until Feb. 16 to place an issue on the ballot. Council members have not discussed a potential ballot measure for the May 4 general election.
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