Leaders at Dallas Area Rapid Transit are hoping to avoid losing future funding with a new program that raises questions of cities withdrawing from the agency.
The DART board on Tuesday approved sending an agreement to seven member cities – Addison, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Plano, Richardson, University Park, and the town of Highland Park – that would distribute money back to them as part of the agency’s new General Mobility Program, or GMP.
“This is a way for us to incentivize the cities to work together and solution-build, and also recapture some of the money, because that would be a big hit to us if there was a reduction or redirection of the penny,” said Kay Shelton, chief of staff and strategy with DART.
DART’s board of directors has been struggling to balance its budget with the needs of cities that are paying in more than they get back in public transit services. The board recently approved service reductions that include cutting routes and frequency across its system as a way to fund the GMP.
The board voted to create the program in March as a way to stave off attempts during the recent regular legislative session to defund 25% of DART’s sales tax collection. The agency gets 1% or a penny for each sales tax dollar from each of its 13 member cities.
The GMP would return 5% of the agency's annual sales tax revenue to eligible cities to fund non-DART transit projects.
While a majority of directors ultimately voted to approve sending the interlocal agreement on the GMP to the seven cities, some leaders didn't agree with a section of the text that calls to penalize cities that might negatively impact DART’s funding. If a city pursues legislation to cut contributions to DART or calls for a withdrawal election, the agency will pull any unspent GMP funding plus interest.
Irving Mayor Rick Stopfer, who represents his city on the board, said he disagrees with the terms even after Irving leaders pulled back from discussing legislation in city council.
“I can tell you that it will probably happen at some point,” he said “We can't continue to pay the money into DART and lose the services we're losing.”
Irving isn’t one of the member cities that is eligible for the GMP, but Stopfer has told the board he has had issues with poor service in his city for years.
He added that Irving is already in talks with legislators and “prospective legislators” and isn’t ruling out withdrawing from DART entirely.
“None of this is going to go anywhere because we probably will call for an election,” Stopfer said. “It's just a matter of if it's in May or if it's in November.”
Anthony Ricciardelli, who represents Plano on the board, said he opposes penalizing cities for pursuing legislative action. Plano Mayor John Muns has said in a previous statement to KERA that “all options” are on the table with DART, alluding to withdrawal.
“We talked a lot in the 89th session about … the penny comes from the voters, the voters make that decision,” Ricciardelli said. “The voters could change that.”
He said cities have the option to hold a withdrawal election next year.
"That's a window that comes up every six years," he said. "I don't think any city has been trying to withhold that from their voters."
Michele Wong Krause, one of Dallas’s eight representatives on the board, said the stipulation on legislative action would help DART survive if funding eventually gets cut in the future.
“That the monies are reimbursed is going to be critical … especially for the first year or two after that quarter cent should, you know, should that happen,” she said. “We're going to need that just to really even have the most fundamental of transit service.”
During public comment at the general board meeting, several speakers said the language in the agreement didn't go far enough to keep cities from pursuing legislation or withdrawing from the agency. Many blamed leaders in Plano for attempting to "loot" DART.
"I would pray the board sees that Plano will never come to the negotiating table in good faith, and I applaud the board for drafting an agreement that exposes that so clearly," said Plano resident Brandon Bullock.
Brinda Gurumoorthy told the board the most recent cuts to services have already been detrimental for DART riders.
"If the GMP continues for a while and we also leave open the door to further legislative action or things like that, we will suffer and we will continue to see DART deteriorate," Gurumoorthy said. "The people who suffer are going to be all over the metroplex, including in Plano, including in Carrollton."
Ricciardelli said Plano has put its own money into local transit, including the new Silver Line opening later this month.
“The idea that Plano has not invested even beyond the one cent of sales tax is also false,” he said.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
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