City leaders in Dallas say all options are on the table to fill the city's pension fund shortfall, including diverting funds from Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
During the city's committee meeting on pensions Thursday, leaders heard from the city's Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland on building back the city's retirement fund for police and firefighters. The fund was on the brink of collapse in 2016 due to risky real estate investments.
"Our requirement is to submit a plan that achieves full funding in 30 years," Ireland told city leaders.
Recommendations for the plan include $17 to $20 million in annual funding for the next five years that will continue to grow over time and a one percent adjustment in the next fiscal year that permanently adds to the base benefit for retirees.
DART receives a one percent sales tax on every dollar spent by the city. Ireland said a 25 percent reduction from that penny is among the additional strategies that would help fill the pension funding gap and would generate an estimated $100 million.
He added the idea to reduce the sales tax has been talked about for years.
“It would require a process, it would require us working with DART," Ireland said.
That process would require DART board and voter approval. He said other member cities have also expressed an interest in reallocating some of their sales tax from DART back to their respective cities, but didn't say which ones.
District 9 council member Paula Blackmon said DART needs to work harder to add new member cities to its service area to make up for the potential loss.
"If you really want to serve the serve southern Dallas, serve southern Dallas, get all those southern cities part of it," Blackmon said. "The senior member city should see a reduction on those contributions."
A DART spokesperson told KERA the sales tax reduction would be detrimental for the agency and would result in service cutbacks.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org. You can follow him on X @pabloaarauz.
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