Dallas police and fire departments funding could increase by around $83 million for the next fiscal year. However, the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget only increased by $80 million, which means funding decreases in other departments to maintain a balanced budget.
Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland, along with other city staff, briefed council members on the proposed $5.66 billion budget for fiscal year 2027 on Tuesday. Council members were also briefed on the planned $6.31 billion budget for fiscal year 2028.
Dallas has faced a budget shortfall — along with low sale tax revenue — for months which has resulted in city furlough days.
The proposed budget has reduced expenses across several departments, including the Dallas Public Library, facilities management, and the Office of Arts and Culture.
Ireland told council members that the top two priorities outlined in the city's community survey were maintenance of streets and police services. He said those two have the largest investment in the budget.
How much will Dallas police and fire get?
The proposed budget for the Dallas Police Department in fiscal year 2027 is more than $823 million. The city budgeted around $758 million for DPD in 2026 — however the city is forecast to spend about $6.6 million more than that this year.
Dallas Fire-Rescue could get just over $471 million in fiscal year 2027. That's an increase from the 2026 budget at around $453 million — although the city is forecast to spend around $7.7 million more than budgeted.
Proposition U
Proposition U, passed by Dallas voters in November 2024, requires the city to spend no less than 50% of unrestricted excess revenue for public safety, including the police and fire pension.
Excess revenue is year-over-year growth in city’s revenue not restricted by state or federal law. That means money from the city's General Fund, which is largely funded by property and sales tax.
Since Prop U passed, Dallas has been put on notice more than once by Dallas HERO — which put the proposition on the ballot — and was sued by Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier this year for allegedly not complying with it.
Police and fire expenses are projected to be 63% of the General Fund for fiscal year 2027.
But Proposition U also requires the city to have at least 4,000 sworn officers. The city is still not projected to reach that number in the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal.
Dallas police response times
Tolbert told council members on Tuesday that the city has evaluated hiring based on response times. That's after an NBC5 investigation found that some urgent Priority 2 calls took up to an hour and a half for police to arrive and some Priority 1 responses averaged 15 minutes.
Police Chief Daniel Comeaux was tasked with lowering police response times when he came to the role last year.
Comeaux told council members that no data has been provided to show where the 4,000 officer required by Prop U was based on. He said from a policing standpoint, he was not certain that number was necessary to be efficient.
"It seems like it's a number that was just pulled from the sky," Comeaux told council members Tuesday.
Comeaux said response times have decreased and added other ways they could continue to go down, like utilizing technology and possibly redistricting some of the DPD stations.
"We might have to make some of the [police] districts a little bit smaller, which then could also help response times," Comeaux said. "And, I think as we continue to do that, we start looking at the data, 4,000 might not be a number that we actually need; the number could be lower than that."
Dallas police and fire big ticket priority spending
- Police hiring: End fiscal year 2027-2028 with 3,800 police officers
- Dallas Police and Fire Pension System: increase of $20.3 million in fiscal year 2027 for a total investment of $246.0 million
- Police and fire pay: increase entry level starting salary to $83,822
- Uniform overtime: $13.8 million in increased funding for Dallas Fire-Rescue uniform overtime
Got a tip? Email Megan Cardona at mcardona@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you!
