Irving is the latest North Texas city to come out in favor of cutting funding for Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
The Irving City Council on Thursday approved a resolution to cut the city's sales tax contribution to DART by 25%.
Council member Brad LaMorgese said reducing funds was a “demand” from residents through surveys conducted by the city.
“DART is our most expensive service, more than police, more than fire, and it's our lowest rated service,” LaMorgese said.
He said smaller cities in DART's service area believe they get less priority than Dallas — which holds more than half of seats on the agency's board of directors.
“We do want public transit, but we want value for what we're contributing,” he said.
But some residents oppose the resolution. Benedict Parks said if the goal is to see improved service, cutting funds is the wrong approach.
“A reduction in funding would be catastrophic to DART's ability to improve service and increase ridership,” Parks said.
Plano and Rowlett passed similar resolutions in recent weeks. Farmer's Branch is set to vote on its own resolution next week, and University Park earlier this month tabled a vote on a resolution to reduce its contribution.
The final decision to reduce sales tax contributions is decided by DART’s board of directors representing the transit agency's 13 member cities.
Seventy-five percent of DART's revenue comes from a 1-cent sales tax imposed on member cities.
DART CEO Nadine Lee said in a May memo that funding cuts could negatively impact services.
Penelope Rivera is KERA’s news intern. Got a tip? Email Penelope at privera@kera.org.
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