Dallas City Council returns from its summer recess next week and the finance committee is set to meet Monday morning to discuss potential changes to how financial decisions are made.
An item on Monday's agenda said the committee would "discuss potential changes" to the city's Financial Management and Performance Criteria.
Council Member Chad West, who is chair of the committee, told KERA that he called the special meeting to make a recommendation on the appointment of a new city auditor. He said City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert asked to place an additional item on the agenda "related to the process to sell city owned property."
"I think it is appropriate to have a discussion on this matter in our committee, but I have let the city manager know I am not comfortable calling a vote on this matter in committee and it would be more appropriate to bring this to a vote of the full city council without a recommendation from the committee," West told KERA.
He added that, given the timing of the meeting occurring as the city explores the best path forward with City Hall, he was skeptical of changing the rules in the middle of the process.
The Save Dallas City Hall Coalition worry it could change how the city will proceed with whether to stay or leave its current City Hall building.
That's because the Financial Management Performance Criteria, or FMPC, sets the standards and guidelines for the city's financial managerial decision making. It contains 55 criteria for eight categories that include:
- Operating Program
- Pension Program
- Budgeting and Planning
- Capital and Debt Management
- Economic Development
- Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Planning
- Grants and Trusts
- Dallas Water Utilities
Details on the potential changes were not available midday Thursday, less than two business days before the Monday meeting.
The Save Dallas City Hall Coalition issued a legal notice to the city in May regarding FMPC No. 20, which falls under the city's budgeting and planning category.
An amendment made in 2021 revised FMPC No. 20 to authorize each new building by super-majority council vote.
It requires the city manager to provide the total estimated cost and five-year forecast of ongoing operating and maintenance costs to the city council. This would have to be done before authorizing new or replacement facilities and buildings or renovation of previously decommissioned facilities and buildings.
"The cost to the City of identifying, renting, modifying, and moving to one or more replacement buildings will be enormous," Save Dallas City Hall Coalition said in its legal notice. "FMPC No. 20 was amended precisely to ensure that the City Council would not make a momentous decision like abandoning City Hall for one or more new or replacement buildings unless a super-majority of all Council members voted in favor of doing so."
The coalition also demanded that Tolbert provide the total estimated capital cost and five-year forecast of ongoing operating and maintenance costs to the City Council prior to authorization of any new or replacement buildings for City Hall.
The FMPC has been revised eight times since it was first adopted in 1978, the same year the current City Hall opened.
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