Dallas County officials are bracing for a potential seven-figure budget hit — less than 3 weeks before North Texas hosts its first FIFA World Cup match.
Commissioners, the budget team and the emergency management department are exploring ways to bridge public safety and overtime funding during the World Cup events without wrecking the budget.
Scott Forster, the county's Homeland Security and Emergency Management chief, said that hundreds of millions in federal funding had been granted, but Dallas County will likely receive a fraction of the $50 million designated to the North Texas region.
That pot of money is mostly reserved for law enforcement on the streets for expected increases in human trafficking, theft, fraud and violence, for example.
"Many, many months ago, the White House Task Force identified like $625 million — for FIFA, safety, security, response, those kinds of things — and has designated different host cities around the country of an amount that they are going to get," Forster said. "But when you look at expenses from the cities, where the games are being played, where the teams are being hosted, where transportation is being done, that $50 million is going to go very, very quickly...Dallas County is going get a very small piece of that pie — very small — but at least we're going to get a little something to offset our cost."
Commissioner John Wiley Price noted that the 2026 budgeted cost for county marshals to protect government facilities downtown is $800,000.
Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins, who serves as director of the county homeland security said funding could change in an emergency situation.
"If something bad were to happen so that we would have to declare a state of emergency, things of nature, that would open up a whole new — just like a tornado — it would open up a whole new reimbursement scenario."
Forster said his team is working on an agreement with the North Central Texas Council of Governments for $264,000 to offset the sheriff and fire marshal offices' costs.
Commissioner Elba Garcia said that following a recent meeting that included Dallas Sports Commission Executive Director Monica Paul, that it remains unclear how much funding Dallas County agencies will receive.
During a North Texas FIFA World Cup 26 Organizing Committee meeting in November, funding and security were among the main topics discussed.
North America was chosen to host the 2026 World Cup, but North Texas will host nine matches at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
The FIFA World Cup Grant Program is administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The projected local economic impact is $1.5 to $2.1 billion.
The first World Cup match is June 11.
The first and last matches locally are June 14 and July 14.
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